Racegoers at Saturday’s Preakness Stakes in Baltimore will be the last to see the race conducted in front of the historic Pimlico grandstand and clubhouse.

For nearly all of those witnesses, that won’t be a bad thing.

Scheduled to be torn down as early as this winter, the Pimlico grandstand has as much character as an old shoebox, with fewer nooks and crannies. The open-air section was condemned by the city five years ago. The clubhouse section hasn’t received an upgrade other than a wet slap of new paint in decades.

BALTIMORE – Kenny McPeek acknowledged that in his younger days as a trainer, he would get enamored chasing the big-name jockeys such as Pat Day or Jerry Bailey to ride for him.

As time went on, McPeek’s philosophy changed. He wanted a rider that would put in the necessary time at the barn in the mornings, presumably to be better prepared for the afternoons.

BALTIMORE – The top two on the morning line in Saturday’s $100,000 Sir Barton Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles are well bred, well connected, and receive blinkers for the first time.

Corporate Power, a $925,000 yearling by Curlin out of Grade 2 winner Road to Victory scored a second-out win at Gulfstream for trainer Shug McGaughey. In his first start out of the maiden ranks, Corporate Power finished second, beaten 1 1/4 lengths, in a first-level Aqueduct allowance contested over a sealed, sloppy track.

ARCADIA, Calif. – None of the female turf sprinters entered in the Mizdirection Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita can compare yet to the horse-for-course the race is named for, but The Wild Grazer is on her way.

“She’s a down-the-hill specialist,” trainer Jeff Mullins noted, and at age 4 is “a bigger, more mature filly.” The Wild Grazer is also the most probable winner of the $100,000 Mizdirection, a 6 1/2-furlong turf race named after the two-time Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner who went 6 for 6 on the Santa Anita hill.

BALTIMORE, Md. – The iconic late broadcaster Jim McKay was born in Pennsylvania, but moved to Maryland as a teenager, built his career here, and considered it his home. McKay’s coverage of racing began in 1947 with reporting from Pimlico Race Course, the first live television broadcast in Baltimore. McKay, who became a Thoroughbred owner and breeder himself, was a champion of racing in his adopted home state, including an instrumental role in conceiving and launching the Maryland Million, which now carries his name.

Canterbury Park opens Saturday night with a number of new stables, a key addition to its wagering format, and plans to roll out a fresh sprint distance in July.

Canterbury is set for a 54-date meet through Sept. 28. The season is starting about a week earlier than last year and ending two weeks later. Canterbury will generally race Thursday and Saturday nights, and at 1 p.m. Central on Sundays.

Trainer Ignacio Correas IV on Wednesday posed the question anyone with a turf horse in the Louisville Stakes is asking.

“Will we run on the grass?”

Correas entered the rising 4-year-old Utah Beach in the $250,000 Louisville, carded for 1 1/2 miles on turf, the seventh of 11 races on a Saturday night program at Churchill Downs. Eleven were entered, four trained by the king of the American long-distance male turf division, Mike Maker.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Last year’s Canadian champion 2-year-old filly Witwatersrand will try to get back on the beam against five other 3-year-old fillies in Saturday’s $100,000 Ruling Angel Stakes going seven furlongs at Woodbine.

Victorious in the Grade 3 Mazarine in November, Witwatersrand started twice in Florida during the winter. She was a well-beaten sixth in the Grade 3 Forward Gal on Feb. 3 at Gulfstream and a trailing 11th in the Grade 3 Florida Oaks on March 9 at Tampa.

Lloyds Logic is the horse to beat in the Preakness Day allowance feature at Emerald Downs. Although unable to win as a 3-year-old, Lloyds Logic figures a tough customer when making his 2024 bow going six furlongs for trainer Tom Wenzel.

Pioneering Spirit will have recency over key rivals Grand Sonata, Turf King, and Kalik on Friday when he makes the third start of his form cycle in the eighth race at the Belmont at Aqueduct meet.

The conditioned allowance will be run at a mile on the inner turf and carries an optional claiming price of $80,000. A field of 13 was entered, with 10 in the body of the race and Laughing Boy on the also-eligible list. The two main-track only entrants are Sheriff Bianco and Synthesis.