Preakness Purse 2019: How Much Prize Money Does Winner Make?

Getty Trainer Bob Baffert pictured with the Woodlawn Vase after the 2018 Preakness.

The Preakness Stakes purse for 2019 is $1.5 million, per America’s Best Racing. This is the same amount as the 2018 race and the winner will take home an estimated $900,000 based on data previously released by the Triple Crown.

This is 60 percent of the purse, while second place earns $300,0000, the third-place finisher takes home $165,000, fourth place gets $90,000 and fifth place is the final team to take home money at $45,000.

This year’s race feels a bit different with no Triple Crown at stake. Country House’s owner opted to hold the horse out of the Preakness, meaning there will not be back-to-back Triple Crown winners after Justify made history in 2018.

“He’s off the training list and will miss the Preakness,” trainer Bill Mott told Blood Horse. “He was coughing this morning so we had blood work done and got right on it. It does look like he’s harboring a virus, though he is eating and there is no fever. But that is an hour-by-hour thing…Sometimes horses look great coming out of a race, and maybe a week, 10 days later, then they’ll show you maybe they’re a little bit tired. I’m not saying that’s going to happen. I don’t know,”

Maximum Security, who originally was believed to have won the Kentucky Derby, will also not be running at the Preakness as the owners continue to protest their disqualification.

The 2019 Preakness Purse Is Half of the Kentucky Derby’s $3 Million Prize Money That Was Offered

The Preakness is offering the winner a lot of money, but it is not nearly the same as the Kentucky Derby. This year’s purse at Churchill Downs was bumped up to $3 million, double the amount at the Preakness. The race became more lucrative thanks to gambling revenue.

The winner also earns the Woodlawn Vase, one of the most recognizable trophies in horse racing. The trophy is worth an estimated $4 million as NBC Chicago detailed.

The Woodlawn Vase, an ornate, Tiffany-designed solid sterling silver piece dating back to 1860 is touted as “the most expensive trophy in American sports” by Preakness officials. A 1983 insurance appraisal valued the vase, which stands 34 inches tall and weighs 29 pounds, at $1 million. Today it is estimated to be worth $4 million.

What makes the vase so valuable?

It was designed by luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co., but so were many major American sports trophies: the Vince Lombardi Super Bowl trophy, the World Series trophy, the U.S. Open trophy…

The Woodlawn Vase carries a great deal of history. During the Civil War, when competitive racing was put on hold, the Woodlawn Vase was buried to keep it from being discovered and melted into shot. It was disinterred when the race resumed in 1866.

Heading into the race, trainer Bob Baffert had an opportunity to set the record for most Preakness wins at eight. Baffert’s horse Improbable was one of this year’s favorites.