BALTIMORE – They charged into the first turn, right together. Justify and Good Magic, one-two in the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago, had hooked up early in the 143rd Preakness Stakes, and then, upon reaching the clubhouse turn, they were gone, swallowed whole by the jaws of the fog that had descended upon Pimlico on Saturday.

BALTIMORE – Mitole might have yet to run in a graded stakes, but the way he has performed in his last three starts, including his powerful victory Saturday at Pimlico in the $200,000 Chick Lang Stakes for 3-year-olds, stamps him already as one of the nation’s best sprinters, regardless of age.

BALTIMORE – Mother Nature finally won out at Pimlico Race Course on Saturday, forcing five of the day’s six turf races to the main track.

According to Georganne Hale, the director of racing for the Maryland Jockey Club, seven inches of rain has fallen at Pimlico since Tuesday.

On Friday, Black-Eyed Susan Day, management was able to keep three of the seven scheduled turf races on a soft course that was resulting in exceedingly slow times.

Race 6 at Pimlico on Saturday kicks off a $500,000-guaranteed pick four featuring two graded stakes races on turf and a stakes race on the main track. Unless you’ve been living under a rock this week, you’re aware that the Baltimore area has been plagued by rain, dramatically affecting the main track and turf course. Below is a preliminary look at the pick four, but this play is subject to change.

RACE 6

The endangered species list maintained by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service includes the blue whale, the red wolf, the black-footed ferret, the ivory-billed woodpecker, and the green sea turtle.

Among others endangered are the Utah prairie dog, the Florida panther, the Puerto Rican parrot, the Maryland darter, the Alabama beach mouse, the California condor, the Hawaiian goose, and the Virginia big-eared bat.

BALTIMORE – Diamond King, in his first morning at Pimlico on Thursday, jogged two miles the wrong way – clockwise – around the track under exercise rider Efrain Santana. The track was sloppy and a steady rain was falling.

Diamond King, a winner of four of six starts, will taking a big step up in class in the 143rd Preakness, and trainer John Servis is realistic about his chances of winning. Diamond King is doing exceptionally well, however, and comes into the race off a four-week break following his victory in the Federico Tesio Stakes on April 21.

BALTIMORE – Jeannine Edwards, who worked as an in-house television anchor for the Maryland Jockey Club tracks at the outset of her brilliant 22-year career as a racing and sports reporter, was honored Thursday morning with the Special Award of Merit at the annual Alibi Breakfast in the Pimlico clubhouse.

Edwards worked as an exercise rider, jockey, and assistant trainer prior to entering the television field. She retired early this year.

BALTIMORE – Humberto Gomez, the exercise rider of Kentucky Derby winner Justify, will be watching Saturday’s Preakness with a heavy heart after his father, Ulpiano Portela Gomez, died Tuesday in Mexico. He was 86.

“It was tough because he’s the one who brought me to the horse industry, but at least he got to watch the Kentucky Derby,” Gomez said Wednesday after arriving in Baltimore from Kentucky with Justify. “I guess he was proud of me.”

BALTIMORE – Less than three months ago, Justify hadn’t even raced. Wrap your head around that fact. In 76 days, he went from an unraced maiden to the winner of the Kentucky Derby, an unprecedented feat in modern times and illustrative of the natural talent he possesses. What he accomplished at Churchill Downs cannot be overstated.

But that was two weeks ago, and once the Triple Crown has commenced, attention focuses not on what happened but on what the future holds. Can he do it again?

Remember the classic final scene in the old movie “War Games”? When the computer runs thousands of mock tests to ascertain the best strategy to win the game Thermonuclear War, and ultimately declared, “The only winning move is not to play.” Well from a horseplayer’s standpoint, that may be the most logical conclusion to draw after assessing this year’s Preakness Stakes, especially with 13 other excellent betting events to sink one’s teeth and bankroll into Saturday at Pimlico.