That race in Kentucky two Saturdays ago was one of the most logical and uneventful Kentucky Derbies you will ever see. Now, the first three finishers, all of whom enjoyed perfect trips at the front of the field, are all back in an eight-horse Preakness where the other five entrants simply look overmatched. What’s a horseplayer to do?
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DRF Past Performances
BALTIMORE – They might have had trouble rounding up enough horses for the Preakness Stakes, but that certainly wasn’t the case when it came to the Grade 2, $300,000 Dixie Stakes for older males on the turf.
An overflow field of 16 was entered Wednesday for the Dixie, one of seven stakes on the undercard of Saturday’s $1.5 million Preakness program at Pimlico. Only 14 will be permitted to start in the Dixie, scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on turf and the 12th race on the card, directly preceding the Preakness.
Wed, 05/13/2015 - 14:45
The Maryland Jockey Club is guaranteeing the size of a number of wagering pools on Friday and Saturday at Pimlico.
There is also a daily double linking Friday’s Black-Eyed Susan and the Preakness Stakes on Saturday. Last year, the wager was on the Pimlico Special – rather than the Black-Eyed Susan – and the Preakness. It handled $495,000.
:: Preakness: Contenders and news
All of the pick fives at Pimlico on Friday and Saturday will have a 12 percent takeout.
BALTIMORE – There was a palpable sense of pride mixed with frustration for trainer Simon Callaghan following the Kentucky Derby, for his colt Firing Line had again performed brilliantly, finishing second to the favored American Pharoah. Yet again, Callaghan had finished second to a Bob Baffert trainee in an important stakes race.
Minutes after winning the Kentucky Derby, Bob Baffert was being interviewed on NBC when he dedicated American Pharoah’s victory “to a friend of mine, Bob Adair, who isn’t doing too good right now.”
The comment undoubtedly went over the heads of the vast majority of Derby viewers because Robert Adair, while a Quarter Horse legend, is not well known in Thoroughbred circles.
Nearing the end of the 1979 Grand Prix de Deauville, while giving chase to First Prayer aboard African Hope, Lester Piggott blew his stick. It happens, even to the best of them, but Piggott wasn’t about to give up. With exquisite timing, he reached out with his right hand and snatched the whip from the left hand of Alain Lequeux, on Jean Loup. First Prayer won comfortably, while African Hope edged Jean Loup for second, after which Piggott returned the whip.
BALTIMORE – The Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan shares center stage with the Pimlico Special on a seven-stakes Preakness eve card at Pimlico on Friday.
For 3-year-old fillies, the Black-Eyed Susan will have a $250,000 purse, the same as it did in 2011. The race was worth $500,000 the last two years and in 2012 had a value of $300,000.
BALTIMORE – Sixteen months ago, Commissioner and Top Billing finished a neck apart in a first-level allowance race at Gulfstream Park that had many thinking that both could be players on the Triple Crown trail.
Top Billing got hurt before he could make the Triple Crown. Commissioner didn’t make the Kentucky Derby, but he nearly pulled off a 28-1 shocker in the Belmont Stakes, finishing a neck behind the winner, Tonalist.
