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BALTIMORE – The day before the biggest race of the year in Maryland doesn’t draw nearly as large an ontrack crowd as the 100,000-plus they get in Kentucky. Still, there are apt comparisons of Preakness eve to Derby eve: Both feature a big race for 3-year-old fillies amid the palpable excitement of an impending Triple Crown event.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Steve Attard is off to a solid start at the meeting, having won with five of 26 starters heading into Wednesday night’s program.
On Monday, the 48-year-old Attard will be hoping to celebrate the Victoria Day holiday in grand style when he sends out Kerry Convent for the $125,000 Lady Angela Stakes.
Kerry Convent, owned and bred by Paul O’Brien, started twice in restricted maiden sprints as a 2-year-old, finishing a close third at seven furlongs and then a more remote third at six furlongs.
Due to the northern location of Northlands Park, it is difficult for local trainers to have horses who have not raced in the winter to be ready to go six-furlongs or farther in early May. Thus, patrons have been fed a steady diet of mostly 3 1/2-furlong races for the first two weeks of the meet that began May 6. More traditional racing begins this Friday with all eight races being carded at six-furlongs and racing secretary Jason Teague has put together an excellent feature that goes as race 7.
After running third in his career debut at Arlington last September, Animal Kingdom has won three of four subsequent starts, with the only loss coming by a head in a March 3 turf allowance at Gulfstream.
The front-running winner of that allowance was a Fusaichi Pegasus colt named Powhatan County, whose only subsequent start resulted in a fifth-place finish in the April 8 Transylvania Stakes at Keeneland. A hind-end ailment has sidelined Powhatan County for a while, said George Weaver, who trains him for Richlyn Farms.
Eddie Gaudet will be trying to complete his own Black-Eyed Susan/Preakness double – 40 years apart.
Gaudet, a mainstay of the Maryland circuit for decades after moving here from his native New England, won the 1971 Black-Eyed Susan with At Arms Length and will have his first Preakness starter Saturday with longshot Concealed Identity. His wife, Linda, co-owns Concealed Identity with Morris Bailey, a longtime Gaudet client.
PREAKNESS STAKES 2011: Contender profiles, news updates, video, and odds
BALTIMORE – The first group of horses scheduled to run Saturday in the 136th Preakness arrived Wednesday at Pimlico at about 12:30 p.m. Eastern following a flight from Louisville to Baltimore-Washington International Airport.
The Preakness starters that arrived were Astrology and Sway Away on a first van, followed by Dance City on a second van.
One of the most anticipated programs of the young Louisiana Downs meeting is set for Friday afternoon. A pair of optional-claiming allowances join the year’s first 2-year-old action on a nine-race card that gets under way at 1:25 local time.
The beginning of the 2-year-old season is welcomed for a number of reasons. It gives the area’s horsemen a look at the latest talent pool and how their youngsters stack up. Many of the state’s stakes programs are also weighted toward the youngest division.
SHAKOPEE, Minn. – Although the Claiming Crown has moved from Canterbury Park for the third time in the event’s 13-year history and will be held this December at Fair Grounds, this suburban Minneapolis track will still offer a stakes schedule worth more than $1.4 million at its 62-day season that begins Friday evening.
It's Me Mom led from gate to wire to win the $100,000 Inaugural at Presque Isle Downs Tuesday evening.
Jockey Willie Martinez hustled the 3-year-old filly away fromn the gate and the remaining five fillies could only chase as It's Me Mom went on to win by 2 1/2 lengths. Trained by Lynn Scace, t's Me Mom was making her first start of the year.
