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Preakness Blog by Rob Longley
Rob Longley is a sports writer with the Toronto Sun in Canada where he covers a variety of sports including the NFL, NHL and the Olympic Games. His first love and first beat was horse racing which has led to coverage of the last 13 Triple Crowns, numerous Breeders' Cups and Canada's biggest race, the Queen's Plate.
He joins Preakness.com this week to get up close to the stories, people and most importantly, the horses that make Maryland's great race. |
Photos by: Jerry Dzierwinski
May 17 - 9:38 p.m. - The Next Three Weeks
If you love horses and horse racing - or any sport at the most elite level - you are going to love the next three weeks.
The roar reverberating through Old Hilltop when Big Brown crossed the finish line in tonight’s Preakness was fitting for the moment and one that will be remembered for a long time by those lucky enough to witness it.
The road will change to a buzz soon enough, anticipation that won’t end until post time for the Belmont Stakes on Long Island, N.Y. on June 7.
In some ways, it has been an agonizing wait between Triple Crown winners, a 30-year anniversary dating back to Affirmed, the most recent of the 10 previous champions.
But the domination in which he has rolled through his five wins for five starts career screams superstar. While we have been heartbroken to see Triple Crown bids end at the Belmont - I’ve been to five myself and was convinced it was going to happen the most recent time with Smarty Jones in 2004 - don’t you get the feeling that this might be the year?
Some other numbers to digest as you ponder that possibility:
With his 5 1/4 length win today, Big Brown has won the first two legs of the Triple Crown by a combined 10 lengths and he’s done it with jockey Kent Desormeaux barely needing to show his horse the whip.
The Derby win of 4 3/4 lengths was the closest of his career and he has now won by a combined 39 lengths in his 5-0 run.
Big Brown now joins Majestic Prince (1969), Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew (1977) and Smarty Jones as undefeated Derby and Preakness winners.
As he has been doing all along, trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. still talks with confidence.
“I’m not afraid of a mile and a half. I’m not afraid of three races in five weeks. The horse just keeps impressing. Any time they asked for anything, he’s been way ahead of us. He’s been waiting on us.”
* A crowd of 112,222 - the fifth largest in Preakness history - were on hand to witness Big Brown’s big score on a sunny, mild Maryland day.
May 17 - 6:49 p.m. - He's Big, He's Brown and he's two thirds to the Crown
How impressive was Big Brown's smashing win in Preakess 133 mere moments ago?
It's 20 minutes after the finish and I've yet to see the entire race on video, but from my vantage point some 30 yards from where the undefeated superstar crossed the finish line, the image at the moment of victory was jaw dropping.
What I will remember most about the effort was the ease with which he crossed the finish line. Barely in a gallop, jockey Kent Desormeaux was sitting as still as could be as he crossed the wire 5 1/4 lengths in front of runner up Macho Again.
Sure it was a 1 3/16th-mile race and yes there was a $1 million purse but for Big Brown it looked more like a morning workout. There will be much talk about his ability to handle the 1 1/2 miles of the Belmont Stakes three weeks from now, but yesterday's win appeared to take such little out of the horse it might not be an issue.
"Arm chair ride with a big button," was the way Desormeaux put it shortly afterward. "I just tried to slow him down and save him for the Belmont."
When Desormeaux led his colt back in front of the grandstand, Big Brown was barely blowing. His performance, however, was breathtaking.
May 17 - 4:49 p.m. - 4:49 UPDATE
Well recovered from his two-furlong workout at sunrise, Big Brown was back in his stall this afternoon waiting for his next date with destiny.
While the stakes heavy Preakness card was being run a couple furlongs away, the Kentucky Derby champ seemed oblivious to the fuss being made by well over 100,000 racing fans crammed into Old Hilltop.
In the early wagering, bettors are buying into the hype surrounding the visually impressive colt, who is undefeated in four career starts. By mid afternoon, Big Brown was the overwhelming and prohibitive favorite at 1-5, a price even lower than his 1-5 morning-line designation.
Second choice at 9-1 was Gayego followed by Kentucky Bear at 15-1.
* Good to see a familiar face roaming the Pimlico grounds this week, albeit in an unfamilar role. Tom Keyser, the award-winning racing writer who entertained Maryland readers for the better part of a decade with his coverage in the Baltimore Sun is here with his gal, renowned horse photographer Barbara Livingston.
Keyser even took a stab at working the shutter during the week. “He’s actually quite good,” Livingston said.
Keyser’s take? “That’s real work.”
* You can’t win without a ticket so we will take a stab at a Preakness payday with a trifecta key featuring Big Brown and Kentucky Bear on top of Big Brown, Kentucky Bear, Racecar Rhapsody on top of those three plus Macho Again.
We’ll do another similar $8 bet with Big Brown, Kentucky Bear onto Big Brown, Kentucky Bear, Macho Again onto Big Brown, Kentucky Bear, Macho Again and Racecar Rhapsody
.
Add $4 to win on Kentucky Bear to round out a $20 “investment.”
Good luck!
May 17 - 3:26 p.m. - I survived the Pimlico Infield
Now I get it.
They weren’t kidding when they call Maryland’s largest cocktail party The Phreakness. We mean that in a good way, of course, after venturing into the infield just as the Preakness party rocked its way into the early afternoon.
Yes we put on our shorts tried (unsuccessfully) to look young and sort of hip and waded into the sea of humanity that is the Pimlico infield on the third Saturday in May.
And yes we survived to tell about it. Sure I got splashed by a spilled beer a couple of times but that could happen in any number of places I've visited.
How to describe the tens of thousands wandering around in various levels of sobriety ...
Think frat party, meets tailgate, meets happy hour, meets horse race and you get a rough idea of what was going on with the mostly young, mostly well-watered revellers. We were there for an hour and two races were run, not that you would know it from the frenzied middle of the action.
We saw and heard some things not mentionable on a family blog, but that was too be expected. We saw a lot of people who didn’t know what day it was either and that also was to be expected. And don’t get us started about the x-rated t-shirts.
Some of the folks actually knew there were horses racing and told us so as a point of pride.
“I saw a horse, I really did,” said a young women who said her name was “Cindy from Philly” and pointed to the quarter pole. “And I’m going to bet Big Brown. So there.”
So there indeed.
We talked to one security guard who was working his first Preakness infield and struggled for a moment to find a word to fit the mostly controlled mayhem.
“Medieval,” he said finally.
Or “insane”, as Baltimore police officer Omar Goodwin put it.
“It’s breathtaking to look at,” Goodwin said as he scanned the crowd. “Sure some people get crazy but most people are just trying to have a good time.”
That was the intent of Eric, a future law student from Miami who ventured into the infield with his pals from Georgetown University in Washington. After settling into a spot away from the rowdier areas, Eric settled in for a cold beer (or two) and some handicapping.
He wasn’t going to look too deep to find a winner in the Preakness, however, after attending the Florida Derby in April and betting against Big Brown, the undefeated Kentucky Derby champ who is the heavy favorite for today’s big race.
“He owes me,” Eric said. “Today I get it back.”
Kudos for Eric to acknowledge the exacta possibility of a racing event coupled with a massive party. Unless you’ve experienced it though, there are no words to justifiably describe the scene.
But as an annual rite of spring and entry into adulthood, the Preakness does one thing not always possible outside of the state of Kentucky: It provides a keg-sized reminder that the middle jewel of the Triple Crown is still a big beefy slice of Americana.
May 17 - 11:15 a.m. - You Can Bet On It
There’s a thing that you should know about those of us who write about horse racing for a living - sometimes the press box can be as colorful as the characters in the game itself.
For some, being a degenerate gambler is learned behaviour. For others it comes naturally.
We take you back to last night when the Black Eyed Susan card had finished but there was still wagering opportunities. Rather than Hollywood Park or any of the harness tracks, the action for a dozen of us waiting to go home was on a track in Argentina. Fun times especially for the three dudes that nabbed a $1,500 trifecta from the South Americans.
Then there was the Preakness day when the press corps broke the bank. Literally.
Grumpy Bill Handleman who is now a big-shot news columnist for the paper in Asbury Park, N.J. but a world-class degenerate gambler got a “hot tip” and sportsman that he is, shared the potential wealth. Of course, tips can be a dime a dozen at the racetrack, but 40 or 50 of us in the press box bought in.
Trouble was, the tip was on a race immediately following the Preakness, which means the horses were going to the gate just as the winning jockey and trainer were holding their press conference up in the press box. With one eye to the monitors and an ear to the interviews, it was a delicate two minutes or so of work. Then again, that’s why we are paid professionals.
Anyway, the hot tip comes in - for once - and after the race a good 40 of us went to the betting window set up in the press box for our convenience. By the time I got there, the teller had ran out of money! The rest of us scurried down to the grandstand to cash before writing our stories.
One other point about the trials of mixing work with pleasure on big race days.
Matt Graves, the former Albany Times-Union scribe who is here on the Preakness press notes team, has officially been dubbed the Black Cat.
When old Matty (as his friends and foes call him) started coming here, Old Hilltop wasn’t a hill, it was still a mountain. Anyway, if you see Graves anywhere today, stay away. No one and I mean no one, has cashed a ticket when he is in the immediate vicinity.
May 17 - 8:34 a.m. - GOOD PREAKNESS MORNING !!
The sun is shining. The gates are open. And the annual Phreakness charge to the infield is in full fury. Bring it on.
After a rainy Friday in Baltimore, it is a brilliant day for racing’s annual Maryland celebration. Over the next eight hours, leading up to post time for the 133rd annual running of the middle jewel of racing’s Triple Crown, we’ll update you on the events at Old Top.
On the track, we’ll take a look at the contenders and pretenders among the 11 three-year-olds hoping to derail the Triple Crown hopes of Kentucky Derby champ, Big Bear.
Off the track, we’re packing shorts and a t-shirt, taking our life into our hands and heading into the infield for a different take on Preakness Day.
We’ll follow Big Brown to the track and check on him throughout the day.
We’ll venture into the Clubhouse where the beautiful people hang and we’ll check out the betting action in the grandstand.
If you’re not at the track, check in regularly during the day. If you are headed to Pimlico, check in when it’s all over.
And if you have some money to spend, put a little on Bear Now in the race before the Preakness and play him in a double with Kentucky Bear in the big one.
That’s it for now. Have a Phreakin’ good Preakness morning.
May 16 - 6:44 p.m. - David Cassidy and the BES experience!!
My how the tables have turned for former heart throb David Cassidy.
For most of his life he was a teen idol, a rock star/actor who made little girls swoon during his singing career and his days playing “Keith” on the TV hit The Partridge Family back in the 1970s.
But today it was a giddy Cassidy doing the fawning, a grown man almost at a loss for words over the fab filly he owns, bred and celebrated with in the Pimlico winner’s circle after winning the Black Eyed Susan.
How good was it? You almost expected him to break into a rendition of “I think I Love You” his definitive hit single from the 1970s, a song that was No. 1 world wide.
Sweet Vendetta, a promising filly trained by New Yorker Gary Contessa is No. 1 with a bullet after her powerful stretch drive through the mud yesterday where she overtook frontrunner Shes All Eltish for the win in the $200,000 Grade II race.
For Cassidy, it may as well have been another gold record as he lingered in the winner’s circle, soaking up the moment.
“It would have to be this particular moment right here,” Cassidy said when asked to choose his biggest accomplishment in thoroughbred racing. “I try to breed horses to run around two turns in races like this, it’s such a thrill.”
Though he still plays concerts around the world - and once played to five straight sellout nights at London, England’s famed Wembley Stadium - Cassidy acquired a love affair for racing from an early age.
He joked today that he bred his first horse 30 years ago “when I was 10 years old.” It was actually in 1974 and he was 24 at the time.
There’s no denying his love for the game though, which has included breeding and owning horses in California, owning a summer home in Saratoga Springs and has travelled to races the world over.
Earlier this year, Cassidy presented the trophy for the Shirley Jones Breeders’ Cup Handicap at Gulfstream Park, a race named after the racing mare Shirley Jones who in turn was named for actress Shirley Jones who played the Partridge Family mother.
Perhaps fittingly, Cassidy’s two worlds collided wonderfully today. Sweet Vendetta is named after an LP by Adrian Gurvitz, a staff writer for Warner Cappell Music who has worked with Cassidy and his music.
May 16 - 5:41 p.m. - Racing's feature presentation
John Hennegan can joke that he doesn’t have “an $80 million advertising budget” like Hollywood hit movie Iron Man because it’s the reality of a small-time film producer.
But after co-producing the documentary film The First Saturday In May with his brother Brad and even after mostly positive reviews, Hennegan has to find a way to pay the bills.
They are working hard at it this week, selling DVDs of the critically acclaimed film at a booth set up in the paddock end of the Pimlico grandstand. If that’s what it takes to get to recover the $1 million it cost to make the film, then the brothers are willing to do it.
“We don’t have the big budget behind us,” Hennegan said yesterday in between autographing copies of the DVD. “This is a grassroots, word-of-mouth deal. We’re a million dollars in the hole and we’re trying to make it back $25 at a time.”
The film itself takes an in depth look at the buildup to the 2006 Triple Crown by following several horses and their connections on their road to the Kentucky Derby and beyond.
Given that Barbaro turned out to be the central figure of the story, it made for a narrative mixed with the thrill of victory in the sport’s biggest race and the agony of the brilliant colt’s eventual heartbreaking demise.
Along the way, viewers are given a crash course in some of the nuances of a game that no longer has the mass appeal it once did.
“We wanted to de-mystify racing for the novice and we feel we’ve done that,” said Hennegan, whose father worked for the New York Racing Association for 37 years. “We knew we could tell a good horse racing story and we wanted to take a shot. We’re really humbled by the response so far.”
The movie has mostly had its run on the big screen though they have a distributor shopping it at the Cannes Film Festival in France. As well, they have made appearances on talk shows across the U.S. including a hit on the Martha Stewart Show.
“We’ve worked hard to raise awareness to everyone in racing so now it’s a matter of when do you make that jump to popular culture and that’s what we’re trying to do,” Hennegan said. “We think this movie has that crossover appeal. We knew if we could get the horse racing fans first, maybe we would get lucky and have the rest of the world take notice.”
Race fans at Old Hilltop can take notice at the producer’s booth today or by visiting www.thefirstsaturdayinmay.com.
May 16 - 2:45 p.m. - Observations
The track may still be muddy (and the infield guaranteed to be even more so tomorrow) but the rain has stopped in Baltimore and Old Hilltop is fixing for the big bash to ring in the middle jewel of racing’s Triple Crown.
In the meantime, there’s racing to be considered including today’s highlight, the Black Eyed Susan Stakes for three-year-old fillies. And a tour of the grandstand shortly before noon today showed the table is set for the feast that awaits.
Some observations:
* The clock is still in the a.m. hours, but Smilin’ John is singing his tune. With a tray full of the Preakness signature drink, he is on the hustle. “Black-eyed, Susan, Black-eyed Susan,” Smilin’ John chants. This is the 15th year he’s been selling the sweet, bourbon-based drink and says he wouldn’t miss it for the world. “This is Baltimore, baby. Preakness time.”
Champagne more your style? Why not a Mimosa at one of the booths offering the bubbly-orange juice mix to kick-start your handicapping genes?
* There aren’t too many sporting venues you can go to and get a trim before the action begins. But business was brisk at Ted the Mighty’s barber shop on the main floor of the grandstand. This is old school, a scene from another era, but hip in its own way. And if you listen close enough, odds are you will get a tip.
* Who needs a winner? Experts from the Daily Racing Form were peddling their form of expertise in the annual Preakness Handicapping seminar. But don’t be looking for that big score - of the 19 expert handicappers at racing’s bible, 16 of them picked Big Brown.
* Speaking of the Derby winner, that 1-2 morning line figure assigned him by Pimlico oddsmaker Frank Carulli may seem like a gift. When wagering for the Preakness opened, Big Brown took the bulk of the money and at 2:30 p.m. was an overwhelming 1-9 favorite.
While there isn’t much money in the pool yet, little action is headed elsewhere. Gayego, the only other horse to compete in the Derby, is the early second choice at 17-1. Next up is lightly raced Kentucky Bear at 25-1.
* He doesn’t always get the hype of other big-time track announcers, but few are more reliable than the voice of the Maryland Jockey Club, Dave Rodman.
The New Orleans native will call his 18th Preakness tomorrow and though he has strong memories of all of them, three stand out. “The ones I remember most? Afleet Alex (2005), Smarty Jones (2004) and Silver Charm (1997),” Rodman said.
“I would say it’s a dead heat between those three.”
May 16 - 2:04 p.m. - It's the Preakness Party Horse!!!
You’ve heard of horses for courses?
Well in the interest of the fun-seeking souls bound for the Pimlico infield tomorrow, we quench your thirst for a hunch horse a little early and present the Preakness Party Pony.
His name is Tres Borrachos and for those not up on their Spanish, that translates into “Three Drunks.”
No character assassination necessary here considering trainer and co-owner Beau Greely admits the 30-1 longshot in tomorrow’s Preakness was purchased as a “beer money horse,” and that he was named after the owners who will be rooting him on today.
In other words, Greely and his brother John IV and Phil Houchens, frat brothers from their college days in Kentucky, were hoping to have a little fun and hopefully have a horse who would pay his way (and, presumably, whatever bar bills might arise).
“We named him after ourselves,’’ John Greely said. “(We’re) a bunch of fun guys having a hell of a good time.’’
“We all went to college together and we thought this would be a way to have a little bit of fun together,” added trainer Beau Greely of the gelded son of Ecton Park. “So far its been a little better than that.”
The threesome are here at Pimlico living large and ready to take their shot at the $1 million purse in the middle jewel of the Triple Crown.
A $40,000 purchase, Tres Borrachos has been a nice return on investment so far, earning $159,200, the biggest chunk of which came from a third-place finish in the Arkansas Derby on April 12.
He’ll have to show much improvement to stay within shouting distance of Derby winner Big Brown, but if you’re looking to find a horse to crash the party, why not go with the party horse?
May 16 - 1:12 p.m. - A chat with Kent Desormeaux
Kent Desormeaux is riding high again aboard prohibitive Preakness favorite Big Brown, but it hasn’t always been that way for the Louisiana native.
He has loved the ups and endured the downs of his decorated career, one that got its legs right here in Maryland where he was an Eclipse Award winner as North America’s top apprentice. So when he returned to Old Hilltop yesterday it was like old-home week for the 38-year-old jockey.
“Winning ... just living in the winner’s circle,” Desormeaux said when asked what he remembers most about his days as a Maryland regular.
“If I didn’t win three, it was a bad day. When I go through a slow time, I actually think about the times I had in Maryland. That puts a smile quickly on my face.”
Like so many jockeys who favored Maryland to work as an apprentice, Desormeaux learned the skills that made him one of the sport’s prized riders, a jock who was so driven that he visited the winner’s circle 594 times in 1989.
Though he is based in New York now, Desormeaux had his most success while stabled in California. It got him the mount aboard 1998 Derby and Preakness winner Real Quiet and 2000 Derby winner and Preakness runner-up Fusaichi Pegasus.
Memories of Fupeg’s mount in the Preakness still burns Desormeaux, who is adamant in his belief he was riding a Triple Crown winner in the 2000 edition, only to see it all spoiled in an upset by Touch Gold.
“A horse like Fusaichi Pegasus is stapled in my mind,” Desormeaux said. “I thought there was no way he could lose and he was destined to win the Triple Crown. He got beat and I still don’t know how.
“I never felt a horse win so easy as he did in the Derby. He is what reminds me that they still have to run tomorrow. There’s no guarantee. The only thing I can guarantee is he is the most talented horse I have ever ridden.”
May 16 - 11:33 a.m. - Emotion riding along with Racecar Rhapsody
Before making a case for his longshot colt, Racecar Rhapsody, in tomorrow’s Preakness Stakes, Kenny McPeek throws in some asterisks.
First, Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown will “have to regress” and his own colt will have to make a nice jump forward to prove he can be a Grade 1 winner.
But McPeek believes he has a couple of factors working for him and don’t forget that he’s no stranger to pulling off a shocking upset in a Triple Crown race.
“I like to believe in higher powers,” McPeek said yesterday after ducking the morning showers soaking Pimlico. “When Sarava won the Belmont (in 2002 to upset the Triple Crown bid of War Emblem) I had lost my grandmother and my grandfather earlier in the year.
“I lost my mother in January.”
With a lump in his throat and a tear in his eye, McPeek then reached for his wallet pulled out a picture of his Mom (“I keep it there all the time.”)
Photo by Jim McCue |
Racecar Rhapsody, who will break from Post 6 tomorrow, is listed at 30-1 in the morning line. At the Belmont, Sarava was a 70-1 shocker.
If there is to be an upset in this year’s middle jewel of the Triple Crown, the Kentucky-based horsemen acknowledges that Big Brown cannot be the same horse he was two weeks ago.
“We just have to hope he has a chink in his armor, he’s never had a spot of dirt in his face,” McPeek said. “Let’s see how he responds to that if it happens and how he deals with six or seven pounds of dirt thrown at him.
“If he can do that and keep on going, well, that’s the sign of a champion.”
The upset-minded McPeek believes he could have one more thing working in his favor: If enough rain falls and the Pimlico track is heavy or sloppy, he believes his chances move up considerably.
“I think my horse will really like it and I don’t know how that horse will take to it,” McPeek said, referring to Big Brown.
May 16 - 10:33 a.m. - Big Brown moves around
It is one of the most exclusive addresses in the world of sports - stall 40 of the Pimlico Stakes Barn during Preakness week.
Money can’t buy it and connections can’t get you in either because the stall is reserved for the Kentucky Derby winner.
Trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. is snubbing the tradition however, moving a stall over where Big Brown has more room to roam.
“There was no real reason for the move,” Dutrow said this morning after Big Brown skipped over the Pimlico mud in his final official preparations for the middle jewel of the Triple Crown. “He’s happy in the other stall so I’m happy.”
If the track should come up sloppy tomorrow after the rains that are pelting Baltimore today, Dutrow admits it is a great unknown for his undefeated colt. Not that he’s worried, however.
“I don’t think it would bother him, but we’ll just have to see about that,” Dutrow said in his final press conference prior to the big race. “I think that it’s his race to lose. If he breaks with the field, I think he wins the race.”
The trainer said his horse has handled the two weeks since winning the Derby with aplomb. And while he’s concerned about racing back on a short turnaround, he sees no confidence issues with the horse who is expected to be an overwhelming favorite tomorrow. He has looked calm and confident around the shedrow even with the rain this morning and cameras snapping at his every move.
“I think he’s become more of a man since he won the Derby,” Dutrow said. “He’s definitely full of himself.”
May 15 - 3:06 p.m. - Sunrise at Old Hilltop has a special "Button Popper"
Donnie Miller calls them “button poppers, ” magical moments in his life that provided him with unspeakable pride and happiness.
At the top of the list for the former jockey and Maryland Jockey Club employee was an afternoon 25 years ago, a day Baltimore racing fans of a certain age remember fondly.
It was the day his son, Donnie Jr., guided Deputed Testamony to an upset win in the 108th running of the Preakness, a dream come true for a family that lived and breathed Maryland racing.
“I’ve got three outstanding days in my life,” said Miller, who is busy this week guiding tour groups around the Pimlico barn area, adding some colorful commentary to add to the experience for Old Hilltop visitors.
“There was the day I won my first race (50 years tomorrow, he’s quick to point out.) The next one was at Churchill Downs where I met my wife and then Donnie in the Preakness. Those were the three button poppers, but especially Donnie.
“That’s something I’d have given my right arm and left leg to do and here my son does it. It was quite something.”
Thoroughbred racing is not all about the glitz and glamor we often see on the sport’s biggest days and the Millers had their share of struggles. Donnie gave up his riding career on the day Donnie Jr. was born because he had a family to support. Racing may have been his love, but it wasn’t his only one and he did what he felt was right.
“I wasn’t quite as good (as a jockey) as my son turned out to be and I had to make enough money to go ahead and feed them,” said Miller, who talk a job with the MJC where he was a popular fixture for the next four decades. “It was all right for me to miss a meal but not them.”
His son’s career end was much tougher to take, especially since he had established himself as a legitimate race rider who was talented enough to compete on racing’s biggest days.
“They operated and got (the hearing) back, but three doctors told him you need a new profession,” Miller said shaking his head. “That’s the last time he sat on a horse. He had no ambition to train and he started to work for an auction company here in Maryland.”
It may have been 25 years ago this week, but the day his son won the Preakness may as well have been yesterday for Miller. And don’t expect him ever to tire of talking about it.
“At the head of the stretch I saw the way he was moving and I said ‘if he’s got anything, he’ll win from here’ and he did,” Miller said.
It was quite a day for Maryland racing, as Deputed Testamony became the eighth state-bred to win the Preakness, the most recent to do so.
Not only that, the horse was considered the weaker part of a two-horse entry that still paid $31 to win when he drew off for a 2 3/4-length win over Desert Wine and jockey Chris McCarron.
“It’s called fate,” Miller said. “Herb McCauley had his choice and he took the other part of the entry.”
All told, it has been quite a week for Miller. In leading the tour groups, he gets the chance to catch up with horsemen he hasn’t seen for years while at the same time educating potential fans, many of whom have never been to a racetrack let alone walking around a barn area.
“He’s such a nice man and he knows so much about the history of this place,” said Kathryn Orton of Towson, who took part in one of the groups yesterday. “He was very humble when we asked him about what it was like to be a jockey and for his son to win the Preakness.”
Miller is much more humble - he’s just having a blast returning to his old stomping grounds.
“I get a chance to annoy people,” he says. “A chance to mess around a little bit and tell them some stories and some of the things to see.”
May 15 - 1:25 p.m. - No Alibis, No Excuses
Trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. made headlines in Kentucky when he brazenly told the world he didn’t think his colt, Big Brown, could lose the Kentucky Derby.
After watching his colt gallop over the Pimlico main track for the first time this morning, Dutrow sang the same tune only a little louder.
“Go to the windows,” Dutrow said when asked of his chances for Saturday’s 133rd running of the Preakness Stakes. In other words, bet him with both fists.
Dutrow made the proclamation at the annual Alibi Breakfast, the Preakness week tradition where trainers are asked for “alibis” as to why they didn’t perform well in the Derby or predictions for the second jewel. Dutrow’s confidence proved well-founded at Churchill Downs when the colt romped to an easy 3 3/4-length win.
Another highlight of the Alibi gathering featured an exchange between ESPN broadcaster and breakfast host, Chris Lincoln and veteran Maryland trainer King Leatherbury. The two are longtime friends with a mutual (if fashionably questionable) hobby, that being collecting ties with a horse racing motif.
Over the years, the two have taken it a step further by promising to will their respective collections to each other when the unfortunate time comes that one of them passes. As Lincoln tells the story, he phoned Leatherbury’s wife earlier in the week and was promptly informed “the old guy is never going to pass away.”
So rather than wait, Lincoln decided to admit “defeat” and loaded up his collection at his home in Tulsa and brought it to Baltimore. And when he presented them to Leatherbury at the breakfast, it brought the house down.
May 15 - 12:52 p.m. - A Prayer of a chance
There are all kinds of ways to pick a winner of any horse race.
Lucky numbers work for some, cute or quirky names for others. Some even handicap the horses based on past performance.
I’ve got a couple of thoughts on all three strategies as they apply to Saturday’s Preakness, but we’ll save those for a little closer to race time.
For now, we’re going to look at a little divine intervention that we stumbled across at this morning’s Alibi Breakfast in the Pimlico clubhouse.
A Preakness tradition dating back to the 1930s, the Breakfast is a chance for Preakness trainers to join the media and other guests and offer predictions for the big race. There was the usual talk from horsemen - some serious, some less so at this year’s edition.
But when host Chris Lincoln pointed out that two nuns from the Little Sisters of the Poor were in attendance, our investigative skills were pressed into action.
Savvy handicapper that I am, I took note that they were seated at the table reserved for Stevil, a 30-1 morning-line prospect trained by Nick Zito. Dare we leave him out of our trifectas?
Turns out the Little Sisters - a Roman Catholic religious order - are often guests at the Preakness and one chapter was the prominent beneficiary of 1988 winner, Risen Star. Owner Louie Roussel named that colt for “the star of Bethlehem and the risen Christ” and donated some of the colt’s earnings to the New Orleans chapter of the Little Sisters.
May 15 - 11:08 a.m. - They take this business about the “most valuable trophy in American sports” quite seriously.
The exquisite Woodlawn Vase, which is awarded to the winner of the Preakness Stakes, is an impressive piece of silverware to be sure. Created by Tiffany and Company in 1860, it was assessed to be worth $1 million - and that was in 1983.
So don’t be trying to get your hands on it this Preakness week - or Maryland Jockey Club security man Bob Vinci will be in your face.
Vinci was polite but firm with his “no” at this morning’s Alibi Breakfast when I asked if I could cradle it the way I once did when I saw the Stanley Cup at the Hockey Hall of Fame.
“Any closer and I might have to snap your fingers,” Vinci said. He was smiling, but kind of like an assassin might.
Vinci was kind enough to explain that because of its age, the trophy you will see in the Pimlico winner’s circle is fragile and that the oils in the average human’s hands can do further damage. Weighing 29 pounds, 12 ounces and standing 34 inches tall, it is an impressive-looking piece of sporting history.
“Everyone wants to touch it, but they don’t make silver today like they used to,” Vincent said. “Go ahead and get your picture taken. Take as many as you want. But don’t be touching it.”
May 14 - 8:33 p.m.- Preakness favorite arrives safe and sound
Big Brown is on the grounds.
That was the announcement blaring over the public address system through the Pimlico barn area at 8 p.m. sharp tonight, heralding the celebrity arrival for racing’s weekend bash.
It was a couple of hours late and darkness was starting to take over Old Hilltop, but the Kentucky Derby champ still had quite a welcoming committee.
Some 150 media members, horsemen and fans watched the undefeated colt walk off a van and into the Pimlico Stakes barn where he is housed with most of the other starters for Saturday’s 133rd running of the Preakness.
His arrival was quite a show, one befitting a horse ready to continue his run at a Triple Crown. Named after delivery giant UPS - which goes by the handle Big Brown - the Richard Dutrow Jr. trainee was paraded onto the Pimlico grounds at the end of his long journey.
It began this afternoon in Louisville where the sharp-looking champ boarded a Tex Sutton charter plane bound for Baltimore. Upon arrival at BWI Airport, Big Brown was loaded onto a horse van before receiving a police escort north to Pimlico.
Also along for the parade were a couple of UPS trucks and two more vans carrying in horses bound for the Preakness and other stakes races this weekend.
Dutrow was also in the van with his big horse who walked confidently and calmly off the truck and into the stakes barn where he was walked around the shedrow.
Big Brown had been scheduled to arrive a couple of hours earlier but was delayed in Kentucky due to poor weather in Louisville.
May 14 - 5:59 p.m. - It’s A Draw ... Lucky 7?
If luck of the draw accounts for anything in Saturday’s Preakness, Big Brown came out that part of the equation just fine.
The Kentucky Derby champ will start from the middle of the 13-horse field, leaving from Post 7. Big Brown, who is undefeated in four career starts, was made the overwhelming 1-2 favorite by Maryland Jockey Club morning-line maker Frank Carulli.
The handicapper in Carulli doesn’t give many of the others in the field much of a shot with eight of the 13 starters listed at 20-1 or higher. Second choice, for the record, is Gayego at 8-1.
Connections from all 13 horses gathered at the ESPN Zone in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor for the traditional “pill pull” draw shown live on ESPN. (As an aside, isn’t it time for the Kentucky Derby to go back to the traditional draw rather than allowing owners/trainers to select their position? It makes for achingly inane television. The Preakness format, which worked well enough at the Derby for decades, is far more efficient.)
Meanwhile, the line of the draw telecast went to Canadian trainer Reade Baker who was asked if Big Brown is beatable.
“He beat all those horses at Churchill, but he didn’t beat us,” Baker deadpanned. Perhaps Carulli was listening - despite making just the fourth start of his career, Kentucky Bear was listed as the fourth choice in the morning line at 15-1.
May 14 - 2:11 p.m. - Here's an experience I had on the way to the track this morning.
With 13 horses entered for Saturday's 133rd running of the Preakness, there's bound to be some traffic issues and perhaps some bumping around the tricky turns of Pimlico Race Course. At least there's no threat of getting run over by a train.
A group of us racing scribes narrowly skirted death this morning on the way to the track from Hunt Valley (okay, maybe not death, but at least a beat-up rental car and near heart failure from our designated senior citizen.)
Problems started when our chauffeur (Talkin Man Mike Kane) decided a good place to stop for a red light was over the tracks of the Baltimore Light Rail Transit system. When the railway crossing lights started flashing, our man Ed Gray - the former Boston Herald racing writer and captain of the Preakness notes team - exercised his authority and told Kane to gun it.
He got us to safety but not before the arm of the crossing clunked onto the roof of the rental car, we swerved to avoid a t-bone collision and our fourth passenger, Matt Graves of Albany, N.Y., almost had a coronary.
May 14 - 1:05 p.m. - He's Just A Lonely Bear
If he has been feeling a little lonely, Kentucky Bear hasn’t shown it.
In fact, the Canadian-based colt has been quite comfortable with his temporary surroundings while getting his morning bath today. His run of the Pimlico Stakes barn is about to end, however.
The Preakness contender was the first of 13 possible starters to arrive in Baltimore - and that was six days ago.
But by nightfall, at least seven more should be hunkered down in their stalls, including Kentucky Derby champ, Big Brown.
The heavy Preakness favourite is expected to arrive at BWI Airport early this afternoon on a charter plane run by noted horse transporter, Tex Sutton. Big Brown is scheduled to be on a flight from Louisville with other Preakness starters, Tres Borrachos and Racecar Rhaphsody and word is the equine athletes will get a police escort from BWI.
Earlier in the afteroon, California-based Yankee Bravo and Gayego are scheduled to arrive at Old Hilltop. Their journey was to include a pit stop in Kentucky to pick up Derby Trial winner, Macho Again.
“I guess I’m old school,” Kentucky Bear’s trainer Reade Baker, who is normally stabled at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, said of his early arrival. “And old school horse trainers don’t think it’s a bad thing to get their horses to the track well before a big race.”
May 14 - 11:26 a.m. - God Bless ... American racing
Nick Zito loves Baltimore, a fact that longtime fans of the Preakness Stakes are well aware.
The Brooklyn native loves all things Triple Crown as well, winning two Kentucky Derbys, a Preakness and a Belmont in his illustrious training career.But there isn’t much that Zito likes more than America and to be specific, American racing.
So as the sun shone down on a quiet Pimlico backstretch this morning, Zito held court outside of the stakes barn. And his message before most of the Preakness horses arrive in Maryland later today: The sport should be doing something to preserve dirt racing, the American way.
Zito has been a vocal opponent of synthetic racetracks, mainly because he believes they alter the style and form of dirt racing in North America.
“I don’t want to see American racing go way,” said Zito, who plans to saddle Stevil in Saturday’s second jewel of the Triple Crown. “It’s not English racing. It’s not French racing. It’s American racing.
“It’s America’s game, we’ve run on dirt for years and years. If you can take care of your track, you can take care of your horses. I’m here to try to preserve the dirt, that’s what I want to see done.”
To help illustrate his argument, Zito pointed to the recent Oaklawn Park meeting in Hot Springs, Ark. Zito was told that breakdowns were down by one third after a resurfacing of the dirt surface at a cost of $100,000. And by sticking with conventional dirt, the style of racing can also be saved.
Zito said that if other sports can make changes to adapt to the times, racing can as well. But his point that it can be done cost efficiently by improving dirt tracks rather than going to the expensive synthetic tracks that are sweeping the country.
“I like Dale Earnhardt Jr., I’m a fan,” Zito said. “He lost his dad and (NASCAR) made changes. We just have to do what the other sports do.”
Zito, who won the 1996 Preakness with Louis Quatorze, has long been a supporter of Pimlico and genuinely looked pleased to be back at the stakes barn where he held court for a handful of reporters.
“I love coming here and I think a lot of the trainers and owners do,” Zito said. “It’s not as crazy as the Derby but it’s still a classic race.”