BALTIMORE - Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom arrived at Pimlico at 6:45 a.m., just 12 hours before he tries to keep his Triple Crown hopes alive In Saturday's $1 million Preakness Stakes.
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BALTIMORE - Excited, relishing a deep, yielding turf course, powered clear to a 3 3/4-length victory over 10 other 3-year-old fillies in the $75,000 Old Hilltop Stakes, the 13th and final race on a marathon Friday card at Pimlico.
Excited ($5.60), the favorite, was on the rail in fourth during the early going, was tipped three paths wide on the final turn, and drew away to her second win in eight lifetime starts. Pink Pallet outfinished Blushandbashful by one length for second.
BALTIMORE - Dialed In and Animal Kingdom were co-favorites in advance wagering for the 136th Preakness at Pimlico, although the two-day daily double wager combining the Black Eyed Susan Stakes on Friday with the Preakness suggests Animal Kingdom will be a solid favorite when the second jewel of the Triple Crown is run Saturday.
PREAKNESS STAKES 2011: Contender profiles, news updates, video, and odds >>
BALTIMORE – Local female turf sprint star Suzzona won for the 14th time in 23 grass sprints when holding off a late bid from Supreme to take the $75,000 The Very One Stakes by a diminishing neck Friday at Pimlico.
Rose Catherine, the 4-5 favorite, was a distant third, another 4 1/4 lengths back, over a yielding course on which she seemed to struggle.
Suzzona ($9.80) needed 1:00.41 to complete five furlongs on a deep, tiring course that horses slogged through all afternoon.
BALTIMORE – No telling whether her effort would have been good enough for her to be competitive two weeks beforehand in the Kentucky Oaks, but a clear-cut victory in the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes was satisfaction enough Friday at Pimlico for the connections of Royal Delta.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – After working a half-mile in 49.80 seconds Friday at Churchill Downs, Santiva appears on track to start in the Belmont Stakes on June 11, trainer Eddie Kenneally said.
The move was little more than a maintenance breeze, coming less than two weeks after the Kentucky Derby, a race in which he closed from midpack to be sixth, beaten 5 1/2 lengths.
Having had a couple weeks to reflect on Santiva’s Derby performance, Kenneally said he was pleased.
As methodical a planner as trainer Todd Pletcher is, Friday’s Miss Preakness Stakes at Pimlico wasn’t on the original schedule for his tall, rangy 3-year-old filly R Holiday Mood.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Former Kentucky Derby candidate Anthony’s Cross finally recovered from a nagging setback and is expected to resume a regular work pattern late next week.
Anthony’s Cross emerged as a top 3-year-old in February at Santa Anita. He won the Grade 2 Robert B. Lewis, then finished fifth in the Santa Anita Derby, a slow-pace race in which he fell too far back to make an impact. Trainer Eoin Harty still hoped to start him in the Kentucky Derby, though Anthony’s Cross had only $182,000 in graded earnings,
A week before the Derby, Harty pulled the plug.
BALTIMORE – Patti Cooksey remembers what the day was like when she became the first of just two women ever to ride in the Preakness.
“I was in there pretty much all alone,” Cooksey said, nodding toward the female jockeys’ quarters adjacent to the Pimlico Race Course indoor paddock. “There was a little TV in there. It was smaller than it is now that they’ve expanded it. I just kind of hung out by myself waiting to ride.”
Even though she finished sixth aboard longshot Tajawa later that afternoon in May 1985, Cooksey had established a legacy.
Preakness Day live updates and analysis. Video from Daily Racing Form's national handicapper, Mike Watchmaker, and other DRF reporters at Pimlico for Saturday's Preakness Stakes.
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