While the Kentucky Derby was the longest distance test for many of the horses coming back for the Preakness Stakes, the mile and three-sixteenths at Pimlico will be the second-longest challenge they have faced up to this point.
DRF Breeding staff writer Joe Nevills analyzes the Preakness Stakes field, in post position order, in the form of Haiku; a Japanese poem of 17 syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five.
Justenuffheart, dam of champion Dreaming of Anna and two other graded stakes winners, recently died due to complications after foaling a Galileo colt, Mt. Brilliant Farm of Lexington, Ky., announced on Friday. The Broad Brush mare was 18.
Harley Hoppe, a Washington-based Thoroughbred owner, businessman and politician, died May 13 in his home on Mercer Island, Wash., according to an obituary in the Seattle Times. He was 82 years old.
Pyramid Peak, a multiple graded stakes winner and sire, was humanely euthanized on May 17 at Nuckols Farm in Midway, Ky., due to the infirmities of old age. The Mt. Livermore horse was 21.
Grade 1 winner and freshman sire Square Eddie was represented by his first winner Thursday at Hollywood Park, as the 2-year-old filly Sprouts romped to a 5 1/2-length win in a maiden special weight event.
Statistically speaking, Preakness winners come out slightly better than Kentucky Derby winners during their stallion careers in the contemporary era dating from 1990, when stallion books began to expand dramatically.
Eric Kronfeld, best known for breeding 2010 Horse of the Year Zenyatta, died May 15 following a battle with cancer. He was 71.
Popular jockey Rosie Napravnik has agreed to join the board of directors for the Old Friends Thoroughbred retirement group. The organization is based in Georgetown, Ky., with a satellite near Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Juddmonte Farms homebred Uno Duo uncorked a visually impressive performance in her second career start, romping to a 5 1/4-length win in a six-furlong maiden special weight event on May 12 at Churchill Downs.
