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On Saturday afternoon, Maryland horse racing once again will take its place in the sporting world’s spotlight with the 136th running of the Preakness Stakes at Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Course. The other 364 days of the year, however, Pimlico and the Maryland racing industry aren’t proving ready for their close-up. Plagued by poor planning and without the expected revenue from slot-machine gambling, Maryland’s storied racing industry has been left with fewer horses, smaller purses, aging facilities and no visible plan for long-term stability. “The state of Maryland racing is not something that happened yesterday morning. It’s been an attrition over...

Half-man, half-horse and altogether drunk, the Preakness' newest pitchman, introduced Tuesday, is a "party manimal" with one job: reassuring young people that this year's infield festivities will indeed be rowdy, raunchy and booze-soaked. Kegasus, a centaur with a nipple ring, body hair and ample beer gut, is the centerpiece of the new ad campaign for Maryland's leg of the Triple Crown. Starting this week, he'll be spreading his hard-partying message on television, radio and social media outlets that cater to the 21- to 40-year-olds the race hopes to reach. Only hours old, the campaign was already garnering criticism Tuesday for...

BALTIMORE – The best thing about paying for an endless supply of beer is that it doesn't matter if you spill a cup. Enticed by the prospect of refilling their souvenir beer mugs from morning until dusk, thousands flocked to the Pimlico infield Saturday for the Preakness. One year ago, after Pimlico officials ended the practice of allowing fans to bring their own beer to the event, no longer were fans in danger of getting hit by flying, filled cans. But who comes to a party where there's a limited supply of beer? Not many, judging by the vast empty...

All our usual Triple Crown chat seems to have evaporated. Today is the Second Leg of the TC. A field of 12 goes postward at Pimlico today for the Preakness Stakes.

BALTIMORE (AP)—A year ago, Calvin Borel jumped from the Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird onto Rachel Alexandra and won the Preakness. This month, after winning his third Derby in four years, the standout jockey decided to stay aboard Super Saver for the Preakness and take a shot at capturing the Triple Crown. The one similarity is that Borel entered the 2009 Preakness and Saturday’s 135th edition certain his ride would end in the winner’s circle. Heck, he predicted a Triple Crown for Super Saver two weeks ago and won’t back down from that assessment.

Secretariat Foaled 40 Years Ago by David Schmitz (Secretariat, shown as a 2-year-old, was foaled March 30, 1970) March 30 marks 40 years since the birth of 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat at Christopher T. Chenery’s The Meadow near Doswell, Va. It’s a date well worth remembering by any racing fan but especially by those who were around during Secretariat’s racing days and more so by those lucky enough to see the strikingly handsome chestnut colt with three white stockings in action. Secretariat’s magnetism was evident soon after the colt’s birth. Chenery’s daughter, Penny, was so overwhelmed after getting her...

However you score it, Calvin Borel is the central human figure in the $1.1-million Blackberry Preakness Stakes (G1) on Saturday at Pimlico Race Course. Whether he played his moves right will be obvious at about 6:17 p.m. EDT. Borel will be under the microscope after making the unprecedented decision to jump off Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) winner Mine That Bird and ride Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Rachel Alexandra instead in the Preakness, the second leg of the Triple Crown Borel was not battling any second thoughts on Friday. “It’s a good position to be in,” Borel said....

A Maryland Senate budget panel approved a bill Thursday that will give Gov. Martin O'Malley the authority to assert eminent domain in an effort to keep horse racing's Preakness Stakes in Baltimore. The Senate Budget and Taxation Committee voted 11-4 in favor of the legislation, which will allow the state to either purchase or exercise eminent domain over the rights to the Preakness and the race track on which it is run, the Pimlico Race Course. The bill would also extend the state's eminent domain authority over Laurel Park and the Bowie Race Course Training Center. Mr. O'Malley, a Democrat,...

Memo to NBC’s Bob Costas and everyone else covering today’s 133rd running of the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore:  The name of the race is pronounced “prake-ness” — not the commonly repeated “preek-ness — and if you don’t believe it, talk to old-timers in Wayne, where a famous racehorse of long ago still is remembered as a hometown hero.  “I cringe every time I hear them say the name ‘Preakness’ on television,” said Dr. Robert Brubaker, the 84-year-old chairman emeritus of the Wayne Township Historical Commission. “They always pronounce it wrong. The word rhymes with ‘break.’Costas, a sports announcer with...

Big Brown, who will be seeking the coveted Triple Crown in the June 7 Belmont Stakes (gr. I), has a "slight" quarter crack on the inside of his left front foot, trainer Rick Dutrow said Sunday, May 25. Dutrow said he noticed a small spot on the colt's foot Friday afternoon and notified hoof lameness specialist Ian McKinlay, who treated it. By Saturday, it had turned into a slight quarter crack, five-eighths of an inch long. McKinlay applied iodine solution and said he’s confident it is very minor. He will “lace it up,” and if everything is good, the colt...

Big Brown looks like a Tripe Crown cinch. He wasn't even challenged today. This horse is a monster. Visions of Secretariat.

Please note: this is NOT spam. It's just material I've gathered on my own to prepare for Saturday's Preakness (I'm a regular poster here). All of the tools below are absolutely free, including the PPs (Past Performances) and video. They often let you download stuff like this for free for the major stake races. Official Past Performances for 2008 Preakness Stakes (on pdf file):http://ntra.equibase.com/eqbNTRAGetFreeFF.cfm?trk=PIM&rd=05/17/2008&cty=USA&de=D&rn=12 Official website of the 2008 Preakness Stakes:http://www.preakness.com/ Videos of each of Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown's 4 prior starts, including this incredible first-time-out shocker on the grass at 14-1! (they must have somehow hid his workouts...

There were few surprises in Friday’s early wagering on Saturday’s Preakness Stakes (gr. I) at Pimlico Racecourse. Predictably, Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) winner Street Sense opened at 9-5 odds, just slightly higher than his 7-5 morning line odds. Next in the advance wagering was Derby runner-up Hard Spun, 7-2 after Friday’s wagering, also consistent with his 5-2 morning line. The complete advance odds, with morning line odds in parenthesis, for the Preakness field, in post position order: 1—Mint Slewlep, 31-1 (30-1) 2—Xchanger, 14-1 (15-1) 3—Circular Quay, 5-1 (8-1) 4—Curlin, 3-1 (7-2) 5—King of the Roxy, 17-1...

KENNETT SQUARE, PA — According to Chief of Surgery Dean Richardson, Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro slept well after his left hind foot bandage was changed yesterday. “I’m happy with the appearance of this foot, which is doing as well as can be expected,” said Dr. Richardson. “Over the last several days, his temperature has been normal and his blood work has significantly improved suggesting that the infection in his right hind is under control.” His heart rate is also consistently normal now, a good indication that he is stable and comfortable. Barbaro remains in the Intensive Care Unit of Penn’s...

For nearly 6 weeks after the catastrophic injuries Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro suffered in the May 20 Preakness, the colt's recovery from the May 21 surgery on his right hind leg had gone better than even the most optimistic had hoped. From the start, Dr. Dean Richardson, who performed the surgery, warned everyone that it could turn the other way at any time. In the last week, almost nothing has gone right for Barbaro. Last night, Richardson said the colt has developed "potentially serious'' complications, including an infection in the leg. When asked how he thought this might play out,...

Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro has developed "potentially serious" complications to his injured right hind leg, and underwent surgery to replace hardware and treat a new infection. Late Saturday, the 3-year-old colt, who shattered his leg at the start of the Preakness on May 20, had the titanium plate and a number of screws replaced after developing discomfort in the leg and a "consistently" high temperature. The surgery was performed by Dr. Dean Richardson at the University of Pennsylvania New Bolton Center, where Barbaro has been recovering in the intensive care unit. In a statement released Sunday, Richardson emphasized that the...

If the doors of perception were ever cleansed, the major event attendant to the 2006 Preakness might make a little more sense. Of course, if thoroughbred racing's doors of perception were ever thoroughly cleansed, the parimutuel part of the game probably would no longer exist. Only the gentried shooing flies and imbecilic bottom clockers would remain. Instead, an industry constantly trying to tether itself to the major American sports leaderboard once again finds itself in the midst of another plow-out after the near- fatal racing injuries suffered by Kentucky Derby champion Barbaro last Saturday at Pimlico Race Course. On Thursday,...

KENNETT SQUARE, Pa. - Barbaro looked better Tuesday morning than he did a day earlier, a strong sign the Kentucky Derby winner was progressing well on a long road to recovery following a catastrophic injury to his right hind leg. "He's actually better today than he was even yesterday and he was pretty good yesterday," Dr. Dean Richardson said. "He's walking very well on the limb, absolutely normal vital signs. He's doing very well." Barbaro was on his feet in his stall, even scratching his left ear with his left hind leg just two days after Richardson and a team...

May 22, 2006 -- BALTIMORE - Was Barbaro's tragic breakdown in the Preakness Stakes a sad random incident on the racetrack or new proof of the sharp physical deterioration of the modern American thoroughbred? That question will be hotly debated everywhere in the racing industry in the aftermath of the accident that abruptly ended the brilliant 3-year-old's racing career, if not his life, and left the world in heartbreak.

Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro was in surgery Sunday fighting for his life a day after breaking his ankle at the Preakness, and the colt's surgeon said he's never worked on so many catastrophic injuries to one horse. Dr. Dean Richardson was operating at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center for Large Animals and said the procedure could take several hours.