What to know about the 2023 Preakness Stakes: Key Storylines, How to Watch and more from Pimlico

Kentucky Derby winner Mage returns in the 2023 Preakness Stakes along with a small but formidable field.

The 2023 Preakness Stakes airs on Saturday, May 20 from 1 to 4:30 p.m. ET on CNBC and from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC. Coverage is also available to stream live on NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports app and Peacock. 

Mage’s trainer Gustavo Delgado looks for his first Preakness win and his colt opens as the 8-5 morning-line favorite for the 148th edition of the race. Mage is the only horse that ran at the Kentucky Derby that will be in the field on Saturday, the first time that has happened since 1948.

Two-time Triple Crown-winning trainer Bob Baffert returns to Pimlico, with his first Triple Crown starter in his own name since 2021 edition of the Preakness. This year, Baffert brings National Treasure (4-1) to the Pimlico. The three-year-old colt hasn’t won since his maiden race and finished fourth at the Santa Anita Derby his last time out.

Brad Cox colt First Mission was due to be in the field and had the second-best odds to win, but was scratched on Friday.

Related: How to watch the 2023 Preakness Stakes

NBC Sports will also air the Black-Eyed Susan the day before on Friday, May 19 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. ET on CNBC, NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports app and Peacock.

The Preakness Stakes is the second leg of the American Triple Crown of horse racing. Like the Kentucky Derby, it’s a Grade I Thoroughbred stakes races. The Preakness is 9.5 furlongs, or 1 3/16th miles long.

The Preakness takes place on the dirt track at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. The race was first run in 1873 at Pimlico, but then moved to Morris Park Racecourse (now closed) in the Bronx. It wasn’t run for three years, and then it jumped to Gravesend