The 15-day Preakness meet at Pimlico Race Course begins Thursday with an eight-race program starting at 12:25 p.m. Eastern.

The meet runs Thursdays through Sundays through June 4, except for Thursday, June 1. There will be a special Memorial Day program on Monday, May 29.

The highlight is the Grade 1, $1,500,000 Preakness Stakes on May 20.

The middle jewel of the Triple Crown, the 148th Preakness is expected to feature Kentucky Derby winner Mage. Derby runner-up Two Phil’s, fourth-place finisher Disarm, and 10th-place Confidence Game are also possible.

Quick enough to lead, Game Time should be prominent to early stretch of Sunday’s $100,000 Singletary Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Santa Anita.

Trainer John Sadler insists Game Time has shown the necessary signs to sustain the run in what will be the longest race of his career.

“Even though he’s got some speed, he’ll handle the trip,” Sadler said Friday. “We’re really happy with him. He’s been incrementally getting a little better.”

A day after the Kentucky Derby, a number of the nation’s top riders will be at Belmont Park for mounts on the card’s two Sunday stakes, the Grade 3, $175,000 Beaugay and the $150,000 License Fee.

The group includes Junior Alvarado, Manny Franco, Irad Ortiz Jr., Jose Ortiz, Flavien Prat, Joel Rosario, and John Velazquez. The riders – who all had mounts in the Kentucky Derby – usually travel to town by private plane the next day, said longtime agent Ron Anderson.

Paris Peacock took a step forward when she finished second in a second-level allowance race with a $32,000 claiming option March 17 at Tampa Bay Downs and could be coming around to the form that saw her beat 15 3-year-old fillies in a Group 3 stakes in Ireland in September. If she is, she could be a handful in the $75,000 Monroe on Sunday at Gulfstream Park.

The 1 1/16-mile race on turf for fillies and mares drew seven horses and goes as race 8 on a nine-race card that gets under way at 12:40 p.m. Eastern.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In the last two years, horses based in Japan have captured some of the biggest international prizes in Thoroughbred racing.

In 2021, at Del Mar, there were victories by March Lorraine and Loves Only You in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff and Filly and Mare Turf, respectively. This year, Panthalassa led a 1-3-4-5 finish by Japan horses in the $20 million Saudi Cup. Ushba Tesoro won the $12 million Dubai World Cup and Equinox was devastating winning the $6 million Dubai Sheema Classic.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Grade 3 stakes winner Rondure seems ideally spotted in Sunday’s sixth race at Woodbine, a conditioned allowance with a $50,000 claiming option over seven furlongs.

Trained by Katerina Vassilieva, Rondure blossomed here last spring when earning his diploma going seven furlongs in a romp before a narrow loss in another seven-furlong sprint, the Queenston Stakes.

On July 2, Rondure earned a big 95 Beyer Speed Figure for a 5 1/2-length score in the Grade 3 Marine going 1 1/16 miles, after which he wound up sixth in the 1 1/4-mile Queen’s Plate.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Cody’s Wish, who was edged out of an Eclipse Award as top male sprinter in 2022 by his Bill Mott-trained stablemate Elite Power despite concluding the season with victories in the Grade 1 Forego and Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, will make his 2023 debut as a prohibitive favorite in Saturday’s $750,000 Churchill Downs Stakes.

The seven-furlong Kentucky Derby Day fixture lured a field of 11, including the red-hot Endorsed, but only as many as 10 will start.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Kentucky Derby isn’t the only 3-year-old stakes race that initially attracted an overflow field Saturday at Churchill Downs – and some in the full starting gate for the Grade 2, $500,000 American Turf had flirted with Derby aspirations at one point or another.

Churchill Downs
Thursday, May 4
Weather: Sunny
Temperature: 43
Track: Fast

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A busy and very eventful morning on the Kentucky Derby/Oaks watch Thursday at Churchill Downs with arguably the most impressive training session of the morning saved for last when Skinner came out at his usual time, shortly after 9:00 a.m., to turn in an eye-catching gallop over the freshly harrowed strip.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Given the events of the past week at Churchill Downs, the sight of two horses running loose without a rider – one a Kentucky Derby starter, one a Kentucky Oaks hopeful – made for some heart-palpitating moments Thursday morning during training hours.

Thankfully, neither Derby runner Verifying nor Oaks longshot And Tell Me Nolies were hurt, and both, as of Thursday morning, were expected to be able to make their engagements.