BALTIMORE – Neil Howard, here at Pimlico for Friday’s Black-Eyed Susan Stakes with a filly named Ahh Chocolate, needs no reminder that it has been 25 years since he saddled Summer Squall to win the Preakness.

“I don’t like thinking how long it’s been,” Howard said with a grin.

Owned by Dogwood Stable and ridden by Pat Day, Summer Squall ($6.80) defeated Unbridled by 2 1/4 lengths in the 1990 Preakness after having finished second to that rival in the Kentucky Derby. Mister Frisky was another nine lengths back in third in a field of nine.

Trainer Robin Graham cross-entered her promising 3-year-old filly Gypsy Judy in both the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan and the $100,000 Hilltop Stakes on turf at Pimlico on Friday.

On Tuesday, Graham said Gypsy Judy would run in the $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan at 1 1/8 miles.

Do not be impressed with the circulating stat that nine of the last 18 Kentucky Derby winners have come right back to take the Preakness. Or be impressed, but prepare to be disappointed.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Todd Pletcher will not be getting his Preak on. Again.

Pletcher announced Tuesday that Materiality, the Florida Derby winner who finished sixth after early trouble in the Kentucky Derby, will not run in Saturday’s $1.5 million Preakness Stakes at Pimlico and instead will be pointed to the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the Triple Crown, on June 6.

All horses entered in Saturday’s Preakness Stakes will be required to be on the grounds of Pimlico Race Course by noon Thursday to comply with security procedures put in place for the race, Pimlico announced on Tuesday.

Enhanced security protocols for the Preakness and the two other Triple Crown races have become commonplace over the last five years. The protocols are designed to prevent tampering with horses and provide transparency to the public.

BALTIMORE – He ran so big in the Kentucky Derby that you just can’t help but think that with a little more luck or a little more oomph, the runner-up might well have won the Derby – and he surely rates an excellent chance in the Preakness on the merits of that huge effort.

Be careful in your thinking.

Preakness Day is going to be like Christmas and St. Patrick’s Day all rolled into one for jockey Trevor McCarthy, who not only will ride in his first Triple Crown race but also celebrate his 21st birthday.

McCarthy will ride Bodhisattva in the Preakness for owner and trainer Jose Corrales. Bodhisattva, based at Laurel Park, improved over the winter and in his last start scored a front-running win for McCarthy in the Federico Tesio Stakes going 1 1/16 miles at Pimlico.

When the 140th Preakness is run at Pimlico on Saturday, the event will be the shining moment of the year in Maryland racing, but it also will represent the industry’s most vexing problem. The Preakness confers major-league status on the sport in Maryland, yet Pimlico is an embarrassment – decrepit, dysfunctional, devoid of charm or glamour.

With five of the top six finishers from the Kentucky Derby – including the first three – all under consideration for the Preakness Stakes on Saturday at Pimlico, very few are willing to take them on, which could result in the smallest Preakness field since 2000.

Roy Jackson had a Kentucky Derby horse.

Divining Rod had enough points to make the gate after a three-length win in the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland on April 11, and Jackson had already ponied up the $6,000 required for late nomination into the Triple Crown races. The ticket to Louisville was his to punch.

By the time the horse was unsaddled, Jackson had already made his decision, and his vision for the colt reached beyond the first Saturday in May.