Handicappers Matt Bernier and Kenny Peck are going head to head with $500 to wager on the Black-Eyed Susan Day card at Pimlico.
Friday’s card is highlighted by the Black-Eyed Susan for 3-year-old fillies, and while there are some decent wagering opportunities I can honestly say I don’t love anything throughout the day. That’s not to be used as an excuse – on with the competition!
RACE 8 – MISS PREAKNESS
There will not be any lifting high of the Woodlawn Vase at Pimlico on Saturday after one of the eight horses entered wins the 140th running of the Preakness Stakes. For starters, it’s way too big, at nearly 30 pounds and three feet tall. Besides, the Maryland National Guardsmen on duty might have something to say about too much manhandling of the most valuable trophy in sports since they will be watching it like a hawk all day long. Imagine being the guy to drop $4 million worth of ornate sterling silver on national TV.
The pick four ending with the Preakness Stakes has a 50-cent minimum and $1.5 million-guaranteed pool. The sequence (races 10-13) also includes a live longshot in the Grade 2 Dixie Stakes (race 12) which will be a single on this suggested ticket.
The play is inexpensive ($25) and simple. The strategy – spread, spread, single and double the Preakness with both Bob Baffert trainees.
There’s a simple approach to the Pimlico double linking the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes on Friday and the Preakness on Saturday, and there’s a complex one. The easy route would be to stand firm with the strong favorites, LUMINANCE in the Black-Eyed Susan and AMERICAN PHAROAH in the Preakness. But, we’ll dig a little deeper:
FRIDAY
Black-Eyed Susan, Race 11
BALTIMORE – Pimlico is guaranteeing the size of four multi-race pools on Saturday.
The early pick four on races 2-5 will be guaranteed at $300,000. The late pick four on races 10-13, which will include the Preakness, is guaranteed to reach $1.5 million.
The 12-percent-takeout pick five on races 9-13 will have a guaranteed pool of $500,000.
A single winner of the Rainbow 6 on races 8-13 will be guaranteed a payout of at least $100,000.
BALTIMORE – Six trainers are eligible for the $100,000 trainers’ participation bonus that has been tied to the Friday and Saturday stakes and starter races at Pimlico.
According to track officials, they are Bob Baffert, Claudio Gonzalez, D. Wayne Lukas, Shug McGaughey, Graham Motion, and Todd Pletcher.
To be eligible for the bonus, a trainer has to run five horses in designated stakes or starter races at Pimlico this weekend.
BALTIMORE – Last year, Preakness Day at Pimlico set an attendance record of 123,469 under ideal weather conditions. That figure was up 5.3 percent from the 2013 figure of 117,309 and 1.7 percent from the previous record of 121,309, which was set in 2012.
Tim Ritvo, chief operating officer of The Stronach Group, which owns the Maryland Jockey Club tracks of Pimlico and Laurel Park, was a bit reluctant when asked Wednesday to predict the attendance for Saturday’s Preakness but said he would be “very happy with a crowd of between 100,000 and 120,000.”
BALTIMORE – Larry Collmus, the star race-caller who grew up in nearby Ellicott City, Md., and John Scheinman, a former racing writer for The Washington Post and a longtime freelancer, were among the honorees Thursday morning at the annual Alibi Breakfast in the Pimlico clubhouse.
Collmus, whose regular duties now include calling races for the New York Racing Association, has become the sport’s preeminent voice as the caller for the Triple Crown and Breeders’ Cup events for NBC. He called his first race at age 18 during the final meet ever run at Bowie in 1985.
BALTIMORE – Ten years ago, Robbie Bailes narrowly averted becoming a sorry footnote in Preakness history. Bailes was the trainer of Scrappy T, whose erratic swerve under Ramon Dominguez at the top of the stretch caused the eventual winner, Afleet Alex, to almost fall.
The incident was so scary that Bailes said he’s watched it only a couple of times.
