Update: Preakness Will Move to Sunday and Run Three Weeks After the Kentucky Derby

The Preakness will move to Sunday beginning in 2027 and run three weeks after the Kentucky Derby.

UPDATE: The Preakness Stakes has a new day and a new place on the Triple Crown calendar. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore announced Wednesday that the race will move to Sunday beginning in 2027 and will be held three weeks after the Kentucky Derby.

This is a material development from PowerPage’s August 4 report, which covered the Preakness being omitted from the new six-race, $5 million Thoroughbred Championship Series. At that time, Maryland’s response and the race’s 2027 date had not been announced. The Sunday move now establishes the state’s first major scheduling answer.

The 152nd Preakness will receive late-afternoon-to-early-evening coverage on NBC. The extended media agreement also includes multiplatform rights to the Preakness, the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes and additional Preakness weekend programming. Moving the main race to Sunday gives the Black-Eyed Susan more room for weekend visibility.

The three-week separation from the Kentucky Derby is also historic. The Preakness traditionally occupied the second Saturday after the Derby. Beginning in 2027, contenders will receive an additional week before the Baltimore leg, changing training decisions and potentially the number of Derby horses willing to continue.

The race is expected to return to the redeveloped Pimlico Race Course after the 2026 Preakness was held at Laurel Park. That return makes the schedule more than a television adjustment. It will shape the first major Preakness weekend inside a rebuilt Baltimore venue and affect Park Heights businesses, residents and community organizations.

The change does not place the Preakness inside the separate championship series created by Churchill Downs Incorporated and the New York Racing Association. It is Maryland’s strategy for strengthening the race outside that structure: more recovery time, a distinct Sunday window and an extended national television partnership.

The next items to watch are the complete 2027 weekend calendar, ticketing, local-business participation and the final readiness of Pimlico. For now, the confirmed headline is historic: the Preakness will run on Sunday for the first time since the race began in 1873.