The 14-race Preakness Day 143 card at Pimlico on Saturday includes seven undercard stakes. First post is 10:30 a.m. Eastern. The Preakness, which is race 13, will be the final leg of an all-stakes pick five with a $1 million pool guarantee. A $2 million-guaranteed pick four also will end on the Preakness.
Since the turn of the century, four horses have won the Preakness Stakes as fresh horses after bypassing the Kentucky Derby two weeks prior. In the same span, four horses who were unstarted as juveniles were victorious in the middle jewel of the Triple Crown.
If you liked the weather for the Kentucky Derby, you'll love it for the Preakness. The forecast for the rest of the week here at Pimlico, according to The Weather Channel, is for daily rain or showers, the chances ranging from a low of 90 percent on Thursday and Saturday to 100 percent on Friday. It's a mud, mud, mud, mud world.
The 1993 season in Thoroughbred racing produced a juicy reel of highlights, with history made left and right. But in the end it belonged to Michael Earl Smith, the kid from New Mexico who had taken New York by storm.
As expected on a huge day, Pimlico will be offering a wide range of wagering options Friday on the 14-race Preakness Eve card.
Aside from his horse exiting the Kentucky Derby in great shape, Tom Amoss felt compelled to try the Preakness with Lone Sailor for another reason: the slow closing times in the Derby.“It seems like nobody is talking about it,” said Amoss.
Proven sires are in good number in the short field for Saturday's Preakness Stakes, including Distorted Humor and Curlin, each seeking their third career classics winner.
It was only five years ago that Oxbow won the Preakness Stakes after finishing sixth in the Kentucky Derby, giving historic Calumet Farm another victory in the Triple Crown series in its first full year of ownership by Brad Kelley.
Theirs has become a mutual admiration society, and a very exclusive one at that. Bob Baffert and D. Wayne Lukas have returned to Pimlico this week to take another shot at the Preakness, and a win by either would tie a record that has stood for 130 years.
Kentucky Derby runner-up Good Magic got a little warm while galloping about 1 3/8 miles on a humid Tuesday morning, the colt’s first day over the Pimlico main track, as he continues preparation for Saturday’s $1.5 million Preakness Stakes and a rematch with Justify.
