BALTIMORE – If this training thing doesn’t work out for D. Wayne Lukas, perhaps he’ll have a future in stand-up comedy.

Lukas provided most of the comic relief at the annual Alibi Breakfast, held the Thursday of Preakness week where trainers used to give possible excuses for if their horses didn’t run well in the second jewel of the Triple Crown, but now just tell stories.

Lukas, 88, is a six-time winner of the Preakness and sends out two horses in Saturday’s 149th renewal –Just Steel and Seize the Grey.

Horseshoe Indianapolis cancelled its Wednesday racing program after several inches of rain fell in the area overnight Tuesday into Wednesday morning, according to the track.

Horseshoe Indianapolis said in an announcement on social media that the cancellation came out of concern for the safety of horses and jockeys.

BALTIMORE  – Bob Baffert looked at his phone shortly after 5 a.m. Pacific time Wednesday morning and saw an incoming call from his assistant Jimmy Barnes, who was across the country at Pimlico.

“When Jimmy calls me early, that’s not a good sign,” Baffert said.

Indeed, the news was not good. Barnes called to tell Baffert that Muth, the morning-line favorite for Saturday’s $2 million Preakness Stakes, spiked a 103-degree temperature, forcing him to have to scratch from the race.

The owners of Turf Paradise in Phoenix and Arizona’s horsemen have reached a deal to maintain approximately 100 days of racing at the track for the next three years, one year after the track was widely anticipated to close, state racing officials said Tuesday.

The three-year deal will guarantee four days of live racing each week from the first weekend in November to the first Saturday in May through 2027, according to Vince Francia, the longtime general manager of the track. That has been the traditional racing season at Turf Paradise for decades.

BALTIMORE – Muth beat Mystik Dan by 6 1/4 lengths in the Arkansas Derby two months ago at Oaklawn Park, and though the latter has since come back to win the Kentucky Derby, Muth was installed as the morning-line favorite over Mystik Dan for Saturday’s $2 million Preakness Stakes at Pimlico.

Muth drew post 4 and was made the 8-5 morning-line favorite in a field of nine on the line of both Daily Racing Form’s David Aragona and Preakness linemaker Brian Nadeau. Mystik Dan drew post 5 and was made the 3-1 second choice on Aragona’s line, 5-2 on Nadeau’s line.

Los Alamitos has scheduled three stakes worth $400,000 during its eight-day Los Angeles County Fair meeting from June 22 to July 7.

There are stakes planned on the three Saturdays of the brief season.

The richest race will be the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes for fillies and mares, a $200,000 race at 6 1/2 furlongs on July 6.

The $100,000 Bertrando Stakes for statebred milers is scheduled for June 22, while the $100,000 Los Alamitos Derby at 1 1/8 miles will be run on June 29.