Contenders

     The Double Eagle Ranch training and breeding center near Roswell, N.M., is owned by Mark Allen; Buena Suerta Equine Clinic is owned by Dr. Leonard Blach, a veterinarian. Double Eagle stands a stallion named So Long Birdie, a half-brother to Birdstone. The farm caters to thoroughbreds and quarter horses. The farm has a good reputation in the southwest; one of its past studs was Irish champion Danzatore, a son of Northern Dancer. Among others, Danzatore sired Reraise, sprint champion of 1998. Double Eagle is run by Jerry Nicodemus, an inductee into the Quarterhorse Hall of Fame.

     “I feel like my horse will run a top-notch race,” the 45-year-old Woolley told the El Paso Times, not long after his 21-hour van ride from New Mexico – with a galloping break at Lone Star – ended in the Churchill Downs barn area in the days leading up to the Kentucky Derby. “It’s a super nice rig,” Woolley said, telling reporters that he saved $50,000 by opting for his own land route to Louisville. Woolley, a Bloomfield, N.M., native and former rodeo rider who has been training thoroughbreds since 1983, watched the Derby while on crutches, having suffered multiple fractures of his right ankle from a motorcycle accident. The hobbling Woolley reminded racegoers of then-trainer Elliot Walden, who was on crutches in the winners’ circle following Victory Gallop’s Belmont Stakes triumph of 1998.
 

     Mine That Bird was sold by his breeders for $9,500 at the 2007 Fasig-Tipton October yearling sale. Needham/Betz Thoroughbreds is a commercial breeding operation co-owned by Phil Needham and Bill Betz, who have been partners for 20 years. Needham/Betz generally consigns some 25 horses to the Keeneland September yearling sale and a few yearlings to the Fasig-Tipton July and Saratoga yearling sales. Their 280-acre farm is located near Fasig-Tipton Kentucky in Lexington, where they have approximately 60 broodmares. The farm keeps a few fillies to race and to build its broodmare band. Top horses bred by Needham/Betz Thoroughbreds (singly or in partnership) include El Corredor, Roman Ruler, Dubai Escapade, Madcap Escapade, Tricky Squaw, Dignitas and Silver Tornado.

     Johnny  Velazquez, whose only classic victory came with the Pletcher-trained, Michael Tabor-owned filly Rags to Riches in the 2007 Belmont Stakes, has had two mounts, fifth-place finishes aboard Stevil (2008) and Circular Quay (2007).
     The son-in-law of top steeplechase rider and current trainer Leo O’Brien, Velazquez left his native Puerto Rico for New York in 1990. Among his milestones, two that occurred in Saratoga stand out: On Sept. 3, 2001, he became the first jockey in that track’s history to ride six winners on a single card, capping the day off with a victory in Diana Handicap on Starine. He also won his 3,000th career race on July 29, 2004 at Saratoga, on “John Velazquez Bobblehead Doll Day.”
     His reputation extends well beyond the rails of a racetrack: He has done extensive work with the Make a Wish Foundation while at Gulfstream and is also the president of the Jockeys’ Guild.

The 73-year-old native of Heaters, W. Va., has been involved as a thoroughbred owner since the mid ‘60s and owns a 170-acre Hal Queen Farm near Lodi, Ohio, with 12 broodmares. He earned his wealth as a real estate owner in Cleveland and as part-owner of Mid-Atlantic Data, a financial-services company in Pittsburgh. A frequent visitor in the Thistledown winners’ circle following stakes races, his best horse prior to Big Drama may be Inside Affair, a stakes winner at Tampa and Laurel.

The 73-year-old native of Heaters, W. Va., has been involved as a thoroughbred owner since the mid ‘60s and owns a 170-acre Hal Queen Farm near Lodi, Ohio, with 12 broodmares. He earned his wealth as a real estate owner in Cleveland and as part-owner of Mid-Atlantic Data, a financial-services company in Pittsburgh. A frequent visitor in the Thistledown winners’ circle following stakes races, his best horse prior to Big Drama may be Inside Affair, a stakes winner at Tampa and Laurel.

     The 23-year-old from Lima, Peru, had his breakout year in 2008, carrying the momentum from his stunning Belmont Stakes upset of Big Brown aboard 38-1 Da’Tara through to the Saratoga Meeting, taking the title there against what most believe to be the world’s most concentrated collection of riding talent.
     He rode the Belmont winner for trainer Nick Zito but he’s had winners for other trainers and has enjoyed prosperous relationships with other trainers, especially Kiaran McLaughlin, for who he has ridden numerous winners, namely Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf winner Lahudood. 
     Although he wanted to be a soccer player in his youth, he followed his father Dagoberto and took up a riding career. He was the leading apprentice rider in Peru following his graduation from the riding academy there, and was best of the bug riders at the Meadowlands later that year but was sidelined for a few months following an appendectomy. On his return he rode in Maryland and New Jersey, then went to the New York-Florida.

     Owned by Robert Baker, chairman of the Purchase, N.Y.-based National Realty and Development Corp., the farm was named after a colt by the same name that Baker owned and raced in partnership with David Cornstein and William Mack. The colt, trained by Wayne Lukas, won the Futurity and Champagne at Belmont Park and ran second the next year in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
     Grand Slam did well enough at stud that Coolmore bought a half-interest in him for $5 million. Baker, Cornstein and Mack also raced Grade 1 winner Scorpion and Proud Citizen, runner-up in the 2002 Kentucky Derby and third in the Preakness. Had Proud Citizen won the Belmont, the group would have donated the entire $600,000 winner’s share to the Twin Towers Fund. The colt finished fifth but the group still donated $100,000.

    With 32 starters, no trainer has been as heavily represented in the Preakness as Lukas, and with five winners, few have had as much success. His winners include his first Preakness starter, Codex in 1980, followed by Tank’s Prospect in 1985, Tabasco Cat in 1994, Timber Country in 1995 and Charismatic in 1999.
    Raised on a 10-acre farm outside Antigo, Wisc., Lukas earned a master’s degree in education from the state university there, became a teacher in his hometown and coached the basketball team, the “Red Robins,” for seven years.
    Lukas came from humble beginnings as a trainer, rising up from quarter horse racetracks in Texas and bush tracks in South Dakota. It’s a long way from where he is now, tied with “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons with 13 victories in Triple Crown races. Hall of Fame horsemen John Nerud, as Tartan Stable racing manager, assigned their top prospect Codex to Lukas’ barn and that colt became his first classic winner, taking the 1980 Preakness. That race was one of 4,500 combined quarter horse and thoroughbred victories Lukas

    Husband and wife team owns the 173-acre Mulholland Springs Farm in Lexington, Ky., a 173-acre breeding farm is a boutique operation. The two come from divergent backgrounds: John a native of Sharon, Mass., who left New England to join the marines when he was 18, and Martha Jane, a native of Oklahoma City who holds a bachelor’s from the University of Oklahoma and a Juris Doctorate from Vanderbilt. One of her cousins, Martha McCauley, is married to Hall of Fame horseman Mack Miller. The original Mulholland Farm catered to quarter horses and was located in Edmund, Okla.; the transition to thoroughbreds, and to Kentucky, was made in 1987. The Mulhollands sold Flying Private for $700,000 at the Keeneland September yearling sale in 2007.

     Scion of a racing family just outside Chantilly in France (his late father, Robert, was a jockey in his youth who became an assistant trainer), the 25-year-old came to the U.S. in January, 2003, to work in California for fellow Frenchman Patrick Biancone.
     He won his first race, at Saratoga aboard Easter Guardian, in 2005, and in 2006, while still an apprentice, recorded the most wins ever (28) for a ‘bug’ rider at that classy meet. He won the Eclipse Award for apprentices that year.
     Known as a rider who can get a hot hand at any time, he’s won six and seven races on a card at Churchill Downs.

     General Quarters, as you might guess, is the star in the one-horse stable of owner/trainer, a 75-year-old retired high school principal.
     “How cool would it be if he won,” said Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, whose mother also was a school principal. Baffert was born not far from where, and just years after, McCarthy helped his uncle train quarter horses in Arizona.
    McCarthy always tinkered with racehorses but became a biology teacher at Seneca High School in Louisville (“Home of the Red Hawks”) to pay the mortgage. The colt’s groom, Jerry Hills, is a former student.
     Bill Mott, Churchill Downs’ winningest trainer and, like Baffert, a Hall of Famer, introduced himself to McCarthy and told him, “You’re a natural.”

     Trainer and Owner.

    The Randals are California residents who have been breeding horses for more than 30 years and who own Fallbrook Farm near Versailles, Ky. They purchased Ecology for $120,000 while she was in foal to Sky Mesa, carrying General Quarters, at the 2005 Keeneland November and they sold General Quarters for $20,000 at Keeneland September yearling sales in 2007. (General Quarters) was just a big, gangly foal,” Mr. Randal told Daily Racing Form. “Even as a yearling, you wouldn’t think he was going to be what he turned out to be when you first saw him. He was a large, average-looking horse.”

     The 36-year-old Venezuelan had been splitting winters between New York and Florida but committed to Gulfstream in 2008 and dominated, winning the title comfortably. That success continued a run of seven titles won at Belmont and Aqueduct. He was the leading New York rider in terms of wins in both 2006 and 2007. He enrolled and graduated from the Venezuelan jockey school after winning five judo titles between the ages of 8 and 18. His 303 victories in '06 made him the fourth rider in history to win 300 or more in a single year in New York. His biggest success at Pimlico came in 2006 when he bagged the Pimlico Special with Eddington. He has yet to have a Preakness mount.

     Vic Carlson purchased Musket Man for $15,000 from the Keeneland September sale and sold a majority interest to Eric Fein.
     Carlson, dubbed a “money-machine magnate” by the Blood-Horse, runs First National PTBM – a firm that sells, distributes and places ATM machines – and served as the football coach and athletic director of the Jefferson High School Democrats until his retirement in 1999. Jefferson High, nicknamed “The School of Champions,” produced pro football players Terry Baker and Mel Renfro and basketball player Ime Udoka.
     Carlson got hooked on racing while attending the sport at Portland Meadows in the ‘70s.
     Musket Man is Fein’s second consecutive Tampa Derby winner, following last year’s winner, Big Truck.
     Fein owns a title-insurance firm, EAM Land Services, in Syosset, Long Island. He bought his first horse for $30,000; the horse went on to earn $400,000.

     The 42-year-old Irishman rode ponies as a child in Tipperary and went on to gain experience in his homeland as well as in England, France and Germany before coming to the U.S. in 1989.
     He calls Musket Man “The best horse I’ve had, by far,” even though Ryan won the Jersey Derby with Emergency Status in 2002 and had three stakes winners – Bunker Hill, Call My Bluff and Allnightdance – in his barn last year.
     “He’s got stamina and gears,” he told the St. Petersburg Times. “The first time I worked him I was ‘Whoa, what the hell do I have here?’”

Jim E. Nelson purchased Fortuesque, the dam of Musket Man, for $34,000 as a 5-year-old mare at the 2001 Keeneland November sale. Sergio de Sousa is the managing partner of Hidden Brook Farm near Paris, Ky. A prominent player on the auction scene, Hidden Brook has been involved in the acquisitions of such top horses as Kentucky Derby-winner Big Brown. Musket Man was raised at Hidden Brook and sold for $15,000 at the Keeneland September yearling sale.

     Although he first came to national attention while using Maryland as a base, he has had little luck in the state’s big race, having yet to finish in the money in 11 attempts. His best Preakness finishes to date have been four fourth-place finishes.
     Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008, he led the nation’s riders in terms of victories for three straight years, 1997-’99. More than 1,000 of his more than 6,000 career victories came over a two-year span (’97-’98), joining fellow Hall of Famers Chris McCarron and Kent Desormeaux, who also used Maryland as their base early in their careers, as the only jockeys to accomplish that feat.
     Although he hasn’t had much luck in the Preakness, he has twice been responsible for ending Triple Crown bids, beating Smarty Jones with longshot Birdstone in the 2004 Belmont and beating War Emblem with longshot Sarava in the 2002 edition. He won the Kentucky Derby of 2006 with Barbaro.
     Pletcher and Prado collaborated to win the 2007 Florida Derby with Scat Daddy.

     The nom de course of Jack and Laurie Wolf, Starlight Stables has been a major force since 2000, when they bought six yearlings, one of whom turned out to be Harlan’s Holiday, the Florida Derby, Blue Grass and Donn Handicap winner and favorite for the 2002 Kentucky Derby, in which he finished sixth. The $67,000 yearling purchase went on to finish fourth in the Preakness and to compile earnings of $3.6 million when he was retired to stud.
     A graduate of Murray St., where he was a scholarship football player, Jack was an Atlanta-based hedge-fund manager who retired to spend more time with his racehorses. In addition to Harlan’s Holiday, their silks were carried by future Hall of Fame racemare Ashado, winner of seven Grade 1s.

     This future Hall of Famer trains WinStar horses along with Hall of Famer Bill Mott, Dale Romans, Eon Harty, Shannon Ritter and Dallas Stewart, who, like Pletcher, is a former assistant to Wayne Lukas.
     Not since Lukas’ heyday has any trainer – year-in, year-out – turned up annually with as much ammunition during the classic season as Pletcher. 
     Prior to his six years with Lukas, Pletcher learned the art of training from his father, J.J. The Dallas native is a graduate of the University of Arizona’s animal-science program. His first winner, Majestic Number, on his own came at Gulfstream Park in February, 1996.
     Impeachment, third in 2000, delivered his best Preakness effort from three starters; his other two starters, Circular Quay and King of the Roxy, were fifth and sixth in 2007.
     Pletcher has had a massive arsenal to draw from the past several years, but the number of his Preakness starts are dwarfed by those of his mentor: Lukas has had 32 starters, winning with his first starter, Codex,in 1980,and

     Phoenix Farm is owned by Ramiro Salazar and his wife, Denise, who operates Phoenix Equine Therapy in Georgetown, Ky. Salazar and Belcher ran a small farm that they had leased from 2002 to 2004, but found it difficult to compete with the larger outfits. Salazar went to work at Ben Berger’s Woodstock Farm and eventually was hired as manager of Barrett Frederick’s Windwoods Farm in Georgetown, while Belcher returned to her equine therapy practice.
     The couple owned three mares: Ginger Ginger, Ginger Creek and Vic's Nostalgia, and were allowed to board them at Woodstock Farm while Salazar was working there. They had obtained Ginger Ginger after she aborted two years in a row and her previous owner did not want to spend any more money trying to get her in foal. He gave Salazar and Belcher the mare as payment for the $600 in boarding bills he owed them. Ginger Ginger had problems conceiving,so the couple sent her to reproductive specialist Michelle LeBlanc at Rood & Riddle Equine hospital near

     Scored with his first Preakness mount, 2005 champion 3-year-old Afleet Alex, and was third with his other two starters, Icabad Crane in 2008 and Hemingway’s Key in 2006. In addition to Afleet Alex, who went on to win the Belmont Stakes, the 30-year-old Elkton resident has won top races at Pimlico, Belmont, Woodbine, Turfway and elsewhere.
     He showed horses as a youngster and later worked in Puerto Rico, breaking horses for family friend, then took a job as a stable hand for trainer Mike Petro as a groom, hotwalker and exercise rider.
     He took out his riders’ license in 2000 and won his first race Sept. 23 that year. He won the Eclipse for top apprentice in 2001 after winning 312 races with his mounts earning nearly $4.46 million. He won his 1,000th race at Delaware July 3, 2005.
     An excellent softball player, he was also a talented wrestler as a high school student in his native Pennsylvania, finishing second in the 103-pound class in 1998.

     The granddaughter of John Olin, who bred and owned Cannonade, winner of the 100th Kentucky Derby in 1974, Mrs. Dilschneider can see the St. Louis arch from her hometown, across the Mississippi River in Alton, Ill. Her family tree includes William Levis, founder of Corning-Illinois Glass, the largest manufacturer of Midwestern beer bottles, and Franklin Olin, founder of equitable Powder Co., the forerunner of Olin Industries, a group of firearm, ammo and chemical companies based in Missouri.
     Mrs. Dilschneider is heavily involved in philanthropic endeavors: She sits on the Missouri Lupus Foundation and Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation boards and is involved in many St. Louis-area cultural, civic and educational organizations. She is also associated with the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, the American Horse Council, the Kentucky Derby Museum, the National Museum of Racing and the Thoroughbred Club of America as well as Washington University in St. Louis.

     LSU-educated 47-year-old who holds a degree in geology, he’s the son of a Fair Grounds Hall of Famer and 30-year commissioner of racing in Louisiana and a former assistant to National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame inductee Jack Van Berg and Frank Brothers.
     His best horse to date is probably Joyeux Danseur, winner of the Grade 1 Early Times at Churchill Downs. Bases of operation are in Louisiana and Kentucky. One of Claiborne Farm’s trainers, that position gave him the opportunity to meet Adele Dilschneider.

     The dam, Minery, was a minor stakes winner who brings the most powerful branch of Tartan Farm breeding with her: He dam, Orseno, is a daughter of Gana Facil, who also produced Florida Derby-Kentucky Derby-Preakness runner-up Unbridled as well as Wood Memorial winner Cahill Road. Gana Facil is a daughter of Magic, she a half-sister to Hall of Famers Dr. Fager and Ta Wee and two other stakes winners.
     The granddaughter of John Olin, who bred and owned Cannonade, winner of the 100th Kentucky Derby in 1974, Mrs. Dilschneider can see the St. Louis arch from her hometown, across the Mississippi River in Alton, Ill. Her family tree includes William Levis, founder of Corning-Illinois Glass, the largest manufacturer of Midwestern beer bottles, and Franklin Olin, founder of equitable Powder Co., the forerunner of Olin Industries, a group of firearm, ammo and chemical companies based in Missouri.
     Mrs. Dilschneider is heavily involved in philanthropic endeavors: She sits on the Missouri Lupus Foundation and Grayson-Jockey Club Research

Owner Ahmed Zayat was the nation’s leading owner in terms of earnings in 2008, totaling purses in excess of $6.8 million. Zayat made his fortune as CEO and chairman of Al Ahram Beverages Company (ABC), the largest beverage manufacturer and distributor in the Middle East, and as the largest shareholder in Misr Glass Manufacturing (MGM), Egypt’s largest manufacturer of glass containers.
He holds master’s degrees in business and public health from Boston University and Harvard.

Most recent trainer to enter Racing’s Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., he grew up on a cattle ranch near Nogales, Ariz., a bordertown near Mexico.

He groomed and galloped quarter horses owned by his father, then became a jockey after his high school graduation. A breath of fresh air when he entered the thoroughbred spotlight with BC Sprint winner Thirty Slews and Cavonnier, the Kentucky Derby runner-up in 1996, he’s known as one of racing’s “characters,” posing for a winner’s circle shot one Halloween night wearing a pumpkin on his head.

He’s won four Preaknesses and on four occasions has won two-thirds of a Triple Crown: He sought sweeps after Kentucky Derby-Preakness triumphs with Silver Charm (1997), Real Quiet (1998) and War Emblem (2002) and he took the Preakness and Belmont with Point Given (2001). He’s had nine Preakness starters.

Owner and Breeder

          Rick Porter owns Fox Hill Farms and Dr. Tom Simon is the master of Vinery Stables, a farm established in 1986 by Ben and Elaine Walden, parents of WinStar racing manager Elliot Walden.
          Porter and Simon already have enjoyed a successful collaboration with Kodiak Kowboy, multiple graded-stakes winner who tallied in this year’s Carter Handicap.
          On his own, Porter, an automobile dealership owner in Newark, Del., owned Old Fashioned; the last two Kentucky Derby runners-up, Hard Spun and Eight Belles; Breeders Cup Distaff winner Round Pond, and Grade 1 winner Jostle. Porter has been an owner of racehorses since 1994 and in 2007 he started Turf Club USA, an offering memberships in the ownership of racehorses and broodmares beginning at $1,500.
          Eight Belles, Round Pond, Hard Spun and Jostle are among his finest racehorses.
          Simon, a retired corporate attorney, has raced horses in the U.S., Australia and Europe. He resides at the

          Kentucky native jumped into the national spotlight the last several years with the performances of Proud Spell, Eclipse champion filly of 2008, and Hard Spun and Eight Belles, runners-up in the last two Kentucky Derbys.
          He came into this classic season with two powerful performers in Old Fashioned and Friesan Fire, but Old Fashioned suffered an injury in the Arkansas Derby that derailed Triple Crown hopes.
          Jones, who has since moved to Fair Hill, Md., was a crop farmer back in Kentucky, growing tobacco, corn and soy beans. The experience he gained with workhorses on the farm has served him well in his new career – he took out his trainers’ license in 1982, after two years of owning horses. “II though (they) weren’t getting trained right, so I might as well do it myself,” he said. “Training horses is a lot more fun than farming.”
          In his only previous Preakness attempt, he finished third with Hard Spun in 2007.

Grapestock LLC is the breeding arm of Dr. Tom Simon's Vinery; hence Friesan Fire qualifies as a Vinery homebred. He was offered at the 2007 Keeneland September yearling sale, but failed to reach his reserve when bringing a top bid of $725,000.

     After becoming only the seventh jockey to win the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby on the same weekend, he said, if forced to make a decision, he would choose to ride the filly over his Derby winner, Mine That Bird.
     With longshots and with the closest thing to a sure-thing, the 42-year-old Cajun showed his capabilities at Churchill Downs the first and second of May, when his 20¾-length tally aboard the 3-10 Rachel Alexander in the Kentucky Oaks preceded his shocking 50-1 score aboard Mine That Bird in the Kentucky Derby. He has had some familiarity with notable longshots: He won the 1993 Arkansas Derby with Rockamundo at 108-1 and the 2006 Stephen Foster with Seek Gold at 92-1. He’s one of only five to win as many as 800 races at Churchill Downs, so the stars were certainly aligned for he and Mine That Bird.
     His riding career, like that of many of riders from Louisiana, began at 8, a time when most kids are learning to throw a baseball.
     He’s won more than 4,500 races in his career and is the seventh to

Jess Jackson won the 2007 Preakness with eventual two-time Horse of the Year Curlin. He purchased a majority interest in the colt from Midnight Cry Stable after he put in an enormously impressive debut at Gulfstream Park.
Rachel Alexandra’s purchase is reminiscent of that of Curlin, who narrowly missed winning a second classic when he was headed by a filly, Rags to Riches, in the Belmont Stakes. He previously had been beaten by the Calvin Borel-ridden Street Sense in the Kentucky Derby.
The N.Y. Times said the purchase price for Rachel Alexandra was between $3 and $4 million.
Jess Jackson, a former lawyer, is the founder of Kendall-Jackson wines. A native of Los Angeles who was raised in San Francisco, Jackson raced horses in partnership with his uncle in the ‘60s and came into the game in a big way after retirement at the turn of the century, highlighted by his purchase of 95 horses for $22 million at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale and the procurement of Kentucky and Florida

The son of two trainers, Keith and Marilyn Asmussen, Steve Asmussen is also the brother of one the great jockeys of the late 20th century, Cash, an Eclipse winner in the U.S. and a champion rider in Europe later in his career.
The 43-year-old South Dakota native benefited from a previous Jess Jackson transaction that led to eventual two-time Horse of the Year Curlin coming to under his care. With Curlin, Asmussen soared to the heights, beginning with his Preakness and Breeders’ Cup Classic victories in 2007 and his score in the 2008 Dubai World Cup. Other top horses include the fillies Lady Tak, winner of the Grade 1 Test, and Summerly, winner of the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks.
The winner of more than 4,000 races has about 200 horses in training, with divisions in New York, Chicago, Kentucky and Texas.
Previous trainer Hal Wiggins has trained horses for Dolphus Morrison since the mid ‘80s. Asmussen has had two other Preakness starters, finishing fifth with Easyfromthegitgo in 2002 and Snuck In in 2000.

Rachel Alexandra is named after her breeder’s eldest granddaughter. AS president ofa steel company, Morrison wa sin Texas inspecting a job where he watched his first race. It was for quarterhorses, but he transitioned to thoroughbreds soon after. He bought some horses and turned them over to Hal Wiggins, the beginning of a more-than 20-year association. Among his previous stakes winners are Lotta Rhythm, winner of the Pocahontas Stakes and third in the 2001 Golden Rod and Lotta Kim, 2003 Golden Rod runner-up. Rachel Alexandra avenged those defeats with last year’s tally.
The family is that of Belmont-Travers winner, and Preakness third, Hail to All.

     Hall of Famer began riding in his native Louisiana in 1986, then moved to Maryland the next year where entered the national stage. He led all riders in wins (450) riding in the Free State in 1987 then, in 1989, he set a record with 599 victories in the year, crushing Chris McCarron’s mark of 546. Eclipse Award winner of 1987, ’89 and ’92, he won the George Woolf Award in ’93. He’s won Preaknesses with Big Brown (2008) and Real Quiet (1998), with three seconds from 11 mounts.
     While longtime Maryland-based rider and local superstar Mario Pino had the mount, Tone It Down’s connections thought “It was the time to make a little change,” according to co-owner Mike Horning. “No one knows Pimlico better than Mario Pino, but on a stage this big, who knows Pimlico and the Preakness better than Kent Desormeaux?”