The Preakness Stakes is an American flat thoroughbred horse race held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs on dirt. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds, it is the second jewel of the Triple Crown, held two weeks after the Kentucky Derby and three weeks before the Belmont Stakes. First run in 1873, the Preakness Stakes was named by a former Maryland governor after a winning colt at Pimlico; the race has been termed "The Run for the Black-Eyed Susans" because a blanket of yellow flowers altered to resemble Maryland's state flower is placed across the withers of the winning colt or filly. Attendance at the Preakness Stakes ranks second in North America among equestrian events, only surpassed by the Kentucky Derby; the 144th running of the Preakness Stakes took place on Saturday, May 18, 2019. Two years before the Kentucky Derby was run for the first time, Pimlico introduced its new stakes race for three-year-olds, the Preakness, during its first-ever spring race meet in 1873.

Maryland governor Oden Bowie named the mile and one-half race in honor of the colt Preakness from Milton Holbrook Sanford's Preakness Stud in Preakness, Wayne Township, New Jersey, who won the Dinner Party Stakes on the day Pimlico opened. The New Jersey name was said to have come from the Native American name Pra-qua-les for the area. After Preakness won the Dinner Party Stakes, his jockey, Billy Hayward, untied a silk bag of gold coins that hung from a wire stretched across the track from the judges' stand; this was the supposed way that the "wire" at the finish line was introduced and how the awarding of "purse" money came to be. In reality, the term "purse", meaning prize money, had been in use for well over a century; the first Preakness, held on May 27, 1873, drew seven starters. John Chamberlain's three-year-old, collected the $2,050 winning purse by galloping home by 10 lengths; this was the largest margin of victory until 2004. In 1890 Morris Park Racecourse in the Bronx, New York hosted the Preakness Stakes.

This race was run under handicap conditions, the age restriction was lifted. The race was won by a five-year-old horse named Montague. After 1890, there was no race run for three years. For the 15 years from 1894 through 1908, the race was held at Gravesend Race Track on Coney Island, New York. In 1909 it returned to Pimlico. Seven editions of the Preakness Stakes have been run under handicap conditions, in which more accomplished or favored horses are assigned to carry heavier weight, it was first run under these conditions in 1890 and again in the years 1910-1915. During these years, the race was known as the Preakness Handicap. In March 2009 Magna Entertainment Corp. which owns Pimlico, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy thus throwing open the possibility the Stakes could move again. On April 13, 2009, the Maryland Legislature approved a plan to buy the Stakes and the Pimlico course if Magna Entertainment cannot find a buyer. Attendance at the Preakness Stakes ranks second in North America and surpasses the attendance of all other stakes races including the Belmont Stakes, the Breeders' Cup and the Kentucky Oaks.

The attendance of the Preakness Stakes only trails the Kentucky Derby, for more information see American Thoroughbred Racing top Attended Events. In February 2017, the Maryland Stadium Authority released the first phase of a study saying that Pimlico needed $250 million in renovations; as of May of that year, no one showed interest in financing the work. The Stronach Group, owner of Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park, was only interested in moving the Preakness Stakes to Laurel Park unless someone else financed work on Pimlico. In October 2019, The Stronach Group reached an agreement in principle with the city of Baltimore and groups representing Maryland horsemen that would permanently keep the Preakness at Pimlico; as part of the agreement, Pimlico's grandstand would be demolished and replaced with a smaller structure, temporary seating would be added to handle the attendance during Preakness week. The plan would have to be approved by the Maryland state legislature when they convene in 2020, as existing state laws would have to be modified in order for the proposal to be realized.

The Preakness is the second leg in American thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown series and always attracts the Kentucky Derby winner, some of the other horses that ran in the Derby, a few horses that did not start in the Derby. The Preakness is ​1 3⁄16 miles, or ​9 1⁄2 furlongs, compared to the Kentucky Derby, ​1 1⁄4 miles / 10 furlongs, it is followed by the third leg, the Belmont Stakes, ​1 1⁄2 miles / 12 furlongs. Since 1932, the order of Triple Crown races has the Kentucky Derby first, followed by the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. Prior to 1932, the Preakness was run before the Derby eleven times. On May 12, 1917, again on May 13, 1922, the Preakness and the Derby were run on the same day. Today, the Preakness is run on the third Saturday in May, two weeks after the Kentucky Derby, three weeks before the Belmont Stakes; the race is run no earlier than May 15, no than May 21. Just after the horses for the Preakness are called to the post, the audience is invited to sing "Maryland, My Maryland", the official state song of Maryland.

Traditionally, the Baltimore Colts' Marching Band led the song from the infield. Today, the United States Naval Academy Glee Club leads the song; as soon as the Preakness winner has been declared official, a painter climbs a ladder to the top of a replica of the Old Clubhouse cupola. The color

Leoncio "Jun" Badilla Evasco Jr. is a Filipino politician, the Secretary of the Cabinet from June 2016 to October 2018. Before he was appointed as the Cabinet secretary, he was the Mayor of Maribojoc town in Bohol from 2007-2016, he was an ordained priest, being ordained in 1970, when he joined the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing New Peoples Army in 1974. Evasco was born in Maribojoc in Bohol province on March 29, 1944, he finished his AB philosophy and theology in Seminario Mayor de San Carlos in Cebu City in 1966 and 1970, respectively. He finished his masters in Ateneo de Davao University. Evasco was ordained priest in 1970, he was assigned as priest in Dauis and Catigbian all in Bohol. A raid by soldiers in his convent in Catigbian in 1974 pushed him to join the underground Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People's Army. In 1983 he was caught while presiding over the wedding of a comrade in North Cotabato, he was tortured and four of his those arrested with him was summarily executed.

Evasco was prosecuted by prosecutor Rodrigo Duterte for rebellion. Following the EDSA People Power Revolution he was one of the political detainees ordered released from jail by President Cory Aquino. After his release, Evasco worked as secretary general of Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto, he served as campaign manager of Duterte. He served as OIC of the city engineer's office from 1989-1990. Evasco headed the economic enterprise office before being appointed as chief of staff of Duterte. Evasco won despite being away from the town for 3 decades, he won re-election in 2010 and 2013. Under his leadership Maribojoc received the Galing Pook award for 2011 for its Cadastral Survey and Simultaneous Systematic Adjudication Project; the town was conferred the Seal of Good Housekeeping by the Department of the Interior and Local Government in 2010 and 2011. In the wake of the 2013 Bohol earthquake he was involved in a controversy with Philippine Red Cross volunteers regarding the distribution of relief goods to the victims.

The controversy led to the prevention of Red Cross volunteers from entering Maribojoc

The 2018 Syracuse Orange men's soccer team represented Syracuse University during the 2018 NCAA Division I men's soccer season. It was 6th in the Atlantic Coast Conference; the Orange were led by Ian McIntyre, in his ninth year. The 2017 Syracuse men's soccer team finished the season with a 6–8–4 overall record and a 0–6–2 ACC record; the Orange were seeded twelfth–overall in the 2017 ACC Men's Soccer Tournament, where they lost to Clemson in the first round. The Orange were not invited to the 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament. At the end of the 2017 season, one Orange men's soccer player was selected in the 2018 MLS SuperDraft: Mo Adams. Updated: August 3, 2018Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. Source: Source: Source