Preakness 2020: Start Time, Entry Lineup and TV Schedule

The 2020 Preakness closes out a Triple Crown that has been unlike any other. 

Instead of taking place as the second jewel of the crown, the Preakness will play the role of third and final race. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the race schedule to be moved around this year but all three races will go off even if no fans will be in attendance at Pimlico Race Track.

There is no shot of a Triple Crown winner after Authentic beat Belmont winner Tiz the Law in the Kentucky Derby but the Preakness is still a major race with a $1 million purse. 

Tiz the Law will not be making an appearance. His connections have decided to eschew the race ostensibly in order to prepare for the Breeders' Cup Classic in November. 

Still, there's an intriguing 11-horse field with Authentic looking to capture a win at the Derby and the Preakness. A feat that has only been done 23 times in the history of the series. 

Preakness 2020 Start Time and TV Schedule

Date: Saturday, Oct. 3

TV: NBC (Coverage starts at 4:30 p.m. ET)

Live Stream: NBCSports.com

Post Time: 6:45 p.m. ET

2020 Preakness Post Positions, Odds

1. Excession (30-1)

2. Mr. Big News (12-1)

3. Art Collector (5-2)

4. Swiss Skydiver (6-1)

5. Thousand Words (6-1)

6. Jesus' Team (30-1)

7. Ny Traffic (15-1)

8. Max Player (15-1)

9. Authentic (9-5)

10. Pneumatic (20-1)

11. Liveyourbeastlife (30-1)

Odds via Preakness Stakes

The field includes horses that were featured in both the Derby and the Belmont early this year with a few newcomers to the Triple Crown sprinkled in. 

Mr. Big News certainly lived up to his name with a third-place finish in the Derby despite 46-1 odds. The longshot comes to Baltimore with much tighter odds but still isn't expected to repeat his feat. He has a sixth-place finish in the Blue Grass Stakes and a win at the Oaklawn Stakes on his resume. 

Ny Traffic has been unheralded to this point with a seventh-place finish in the Derby but did run close to Authentic when he took second in the Haskell Stakes. Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. has yet to win a Triple Crown race. 

Max Player made his debut under trainer Steve Asmussen in the Run for the Roses finishing fifth. Before that, the colt showed potential in his third-place finish at the Belmont while working with trainer Linda Rice. He hasn't notched a win since the G3 Withers Stakes, where he was was impressive when only needing to go 1⅛ mile. The shorter Preakness may help him perform better. 

Pneumatic returns to the Triple Crown after a strong fourth-place showing in the Belmont. Asmussen decided to skip the quick turnaround to the Derby and instead patiently awaited the Preakness to bring his colt back into the mix. 

That leaves Authentic as the only other horse to make an appearance in the three major races. The Derby winner proved to be too much for former darling and Belmont winner Tiz the Law, now he'll try his hand at prevailing as the major favorite. 

His biggest competition might come from one of the horses who is making their Triple Crown debut in the final leg. The second-best odds belong to Art Collector. Trainer Thomas Drury Jr. had his horse who is four-for-four as a three-year-old prepared for Churchill Downs but a late injury forced him to scratch. 

Now, the Preakness represents the last shot at glory before the Breeders' Cup Classic. 

Swiss Skydiver is another intriguing newcomer. The filly is looking to become the sixth to win the Preakness. The last filly to win the race was Asmussen-trained Rachel Alexandra in 2009. She did it as the favorite but Swiss Skydiver will have a little more adversity to overcome to pick up the win. 

She's made eight starts in 2020 with wins in four of them. She has only failed to hit the board once and last finished second in the Kentucky Oaks after a bad trip on the inside. 

The field is rounded out by a trio of longshots in Excession, Liveyourbeastlife and Jesus' Team.

Excession is an unknown commodity at this point. He hasn't raced since March where he took second in the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes. His only other appearances as a three-year-old saw him finish seventh and eighth. 

Jesus' Team is the antithesis of Excession. He's made seven starts as a three-year-old but has only won two times. His best results may be his fourth-place finish at the Haskell. 

Liveyourbeastlife might be the most intriguing of the trio. He is coming off a second-place finish in the G2 Jim Dandy after he picked up a win in an allowance race in Saratoga. 

None of the three are likely to make a run at Authentic but the Derby winner has plenty of threats to outrun to capture the Black-Eyed Susans in Baltimore.