The official flower of each Triple Crown race, explained

Preakness Stakes: “Black-eyed Susans”

The quotes are there for a reason.

There is a specific reason Black-eyed Susans are used in the Preakness. Pimlico Race Track, where the Preakness is held, is located in Maryland. The Black-eyed Susan is the official flower of the state of Maryland, so its presence is somewhat logical. There has to be that link, because otherwise the garland presented to the Preakness winner would be a lot more trouble than it’s worth.

You see, the Preakness Stakes takes place generally on the third weekend in May. That’s during the spring. Black-eyed Susan’s bloom in the summer. So while the garland presented to the Preakness winner may appear to be of Black-eyed Susans, it is actually a garland of a flower called the viking pom, a relative of the chrysanthemum. Because of the relative sizes, hundreds more flowers are needed for the Preakness, even though the garland itself is smaller.

The blanket of “Black-eyed Susans” was first presented to the Preakness winner in the late 1930s. For a long time the garland was made of yellow daisies, their centers painted black to resemble the state flower. Some time before the turn of the century, the people in change of creating the flower garland for the Preakness discovered the viking pom. The center of the pom is brown rather than black, but it looks enough like the actual Black-eyed Susan that observers who aren’t looking for that specifically won’t notice the difference.