The result of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs next weekend will play a key role in whether Uncle Lino progresses to the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 21 following his win in Saturday’s $151,035 California Chrome Stakes at Los Alamitos.
Uncle Lino, who finished third in the $1,009,690 Santa Anita Derby will not start in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 7 and will be pointed for the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 21, trainer Gary Sherlock said on Wednesday.
If you are keeping score, jockey Jevian Toledo was placed first after finishing second in the Federico Tesio Stakes (race 2) at Laurel Park on Saturday and disqualified from first to second in the Weber City Miss Stakes (race 4).
The Pimlico meet will start later and end later this year than in 2015 and will have nine fewer racing days. The stakes schedule is different too but will offer the same 15 stakes as last year on its two main cards, Preakness Day and Black-Eyed Susan Day.
NBC Sports has reached an agreement with the owner of Pimlico Race Course in Maryland that will keep the Preakness Stakes on NBC through at least the next five years, according to the network and racing officials.
Bob Baffert won the trainers’ participation bonus at Pimlico last weekend, according to stakes coordinator Coley Blind.
The Preakness monsoon cleared out the Pimlico infield, spread out the field by 48 lengths from front to back, and played mind games with figure makers, including those of us at Beyer Central. “Making figures is sometimes a science and sometimes an art,” Andrew Beyer said. “This time, it was intelligent guesswork at best.”
A look at the 140th Preakness Stakes in photos.
While betting on Saturday’s Preakness Stakes did not keep pace with record figures for this year’s Kentucky Derby, the significant decline in wagering may have been more a function of the circumstances surrounding the race then on any drop-off in attention to racing’s biggest events.
Pimlico decided not to delay the start of Saturday’s rain-deluged Preakness Stakes because the worst of the storm that hit shortly before the race had already passed the track, according to Sal Sinatra, the track’s general manager.
