Other graded stakes on the program are the $150,000 Miss Preakness (G3) for 3-year-old fillies sprinting six furlongs, and $150,000 Allaire du Pont (G3) for fillies and mares 3 and up going 1 1/8 miles. Rounding out the stakes action are a pair of turf events, the $100,000 Hilltop for 3-year-old fillies at one mile, and $100,000 The Very One, a five-furlong dash for females 3 and older.

First race post time is 11:30 a.m.

The du Pont returns to its traditional spot on Preakness weekend after being moved to late December amid the coronavirus pandemic and run as the last graded-stakes on the East Coast. Horologist can give Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott his second du Pont victory, following Ajinia – 1997’s champion 3-year-old filly – in 1998.

Horologist has raced once this year, winning the Top Flight Invitational April 10 at Aqueduct. It was the 5-year-old Gemologist mare’s third straight trip at 1 1/8 miles, after winning the Beldame (G2) and finishing off the board in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) to cap 2020. Other graded wins have come in last summer’s Molly Pitcher (G3) and 2019 Monmouth Oaks (G3), both at Monmouth Park, the latter for her original trainer, the late John Mazza.

This will be the 14th consecutive stakes start for Horologist – the name for a maker of clocks or watches – and 12th overall against graded competition. She has raced once previously in Maryland, finishing second by a nose to Arrifana in the one-mile Nellie Morse at Laurel Park in March 2020.

The New Jersey-bred Horologist, a daughter of Gemologist, has won eight times in her career while earning over $770,000. She was bred by Holly Crest Farm and is owned by There’s A Chance Stable, Medallion Racing, Abbondanza Racing, LLC, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Paradise Farms Corp. and David Staudacher.