Whenever trainer D. Wayne Lukas wins a race, he picks a young fan out of the crowd near the winner’s circle and invites the child to join Lukas for the picture-taking ceremony. He made a lot of youngsters – not to mention their parents, and Coady Photography – quite happy this past winter at Oaklawn, where Lukas was the leading trainer, and he said he would continue the tradition at Pimlico should he win a race on Saturday.
PREAKNESS STAKES 2011: Contenders, odds, video, and news updates
ELMONT, N.Y. – You’d think Todd Pletcher would’ve already won the Shuvee Handicap a handful of times, but the five-time Eclipse Award winner will be looking for his first such victory in Saturday’s 36th running of the Grade 2, $150,000 race for fillies and mares.
Awesome Maria, coming off the two fastest performances of her career at Gulfstream Park, will be odds-on to rectify that situation when she breaks from post 3 with Javier Castellano and spots seven to 10 pounds to four rivals, including her uncoupled stablemate Happy Week, who drew the rail with Jose Lezcano.
Uncle Mo, the 2010 2-year-old champion who was scratched from the Kentucky Derby the day before the race due to a yet-to-be diagnosed internal issue, has put on 30 pounds since being moved from Churchill Downs to WinStar Farm on May 9, but there is still no timetable for his return to training or racing.
Trainer Todd Pletcher said Uncle Mo gets turned out four to five hours a day.
PREAKNESS STAKES 2011: Contender profiles, news updates, video, and odds >>
BALTIMORE – The Wednesday arrivals of nine Preakness horses led to considerably more activity around the Pimlico stakes barn Thursday morning, as those horses all had their first looks at the track when sent through routine jogs, gallops, and gate schoolings.
PREAKNESS STAKES 2011: Contenders, odds, video, and news updates
The paralyzed jockey Michael Martinez will have an expedited oral hearing before the United States Customs and Immigration service director, Robin Barrett, on Monday, said Golden Gate Fields track physician Dr. David Seftel. Seftel has been assisting Martinez in the jockey’s effort to acquire a travel visa so that he can travel to Zurich, Switzerland, and undergo an experimental stem-cell treatment. The hearing is part of the process of granting Martinez permanent residency in the United States so he will be allowed return to the U.S. from Switzerland.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Before walking the plank against Blind Luck and Switch in the Grade 1 Vanity Handicap on June 18 at Hollywood Park, a jumbled cast of second-tier fillies and mares runs Saturday in the Vanity prep, the Grade 2 Milady Handicap.
The heartless description of St Trinians as second-tier comes on the heels of a futile winter at Santa Anita. Though she gave Zenyatta a scare last June when second in the Vanity, two poor dirt races by St. Trinians begs the question – is she still that good?
BALTIMORE – Had his connections wanted to push the envelope, Astrology could have run in this year’s Kentucky Derby. He had sufficient graded stakes earnings, was a stakes winner over the Churchill Downs main track, and ran creditably in his one and only race of his 3-year-old season.
Unlike in prior years here at Pimlico – or at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Oaks and Derby Days – superfectas are available in 10-cent increments on all races, including the Preakness.
Dime supers are part of an extensive Saturday wagering menu that also includes rolling doubles, rolling pick threes, two pick fours, two super high fives, and a pick five, as well as pool guarantees of $250,000 on the first pick four (races 5-8) and $1 million on the pick four ending with the Preakness (races 9-12).
One of the more noticeable differences from the Derby to Preakness is this: Longshots have a far worse chance, at least historically, to win at Pimlico. Whereas big-priced winners have almost become the norm in the Derby – in the last dozen years, bombers such as Charismatic (31-1), Giacomo (50-1), Mine That Bird (50-1), and Animal Kingdom (20-1) have prevailed – the Preakness is about as formful a race as possible.
BALTIMORE – Like every trainer with a horse in the 136th Preakness, Nick Zito and Chris Grove would dearly love to win Saturday at Pimlico with Dialed In and Norman Asbjornson, respectively. But in case they don’t, they can root for each other.
Zito and Grove have formed a bond centered on Grove’s 12-year-old son, Noah, who was diagnosed with bone cancer in 2004 and underwent a life-saving, through-the-knee amputation. Although Zito has known about Noah’s condition for quite some time, they met for the first time at the Wednesday post-position draw in the Pimlico infield.
