The date of the Preakness Stakes in 2017 is on Saturday, May 21st. the Preakness Stakes is an annual horse race held every year on the third Saturday in the month of May. The race itself is an American Grade I flat thoroughbred horse race that is hosted by the Pimlico Race Course, which is 1 3/16's miles long, in Batlimore, Maryland. The Preakness is the second leg of the horce racing Triple Crown. The Kentucky Derby, held on the first Saturday of May, is the second leg and the Belmont Stakes, held on the first Saturday of June, is the third and final leg. In hopes of winning the Triple Crown, the winning horse from the Kentucky Derby almost always races in the Preakness.
The Preakness Stakes was named by a past Maryland Governor after the name of the colt who won the Dinner Party Stakes on the day the Pimlico Race Course opened in 1870. The annual attendance is ranked second in North America behind the Kentucky Derby.