From left: Tullock, Overmier, Hall

For Maryland Jockey Club stall manager Terry Overmier, it starts the day after the Kentucky Derby. The phone calls. The preparations. The orders for bedding. The stall requests.

“Some trainers want to be in certain places, so I try to get them done first,” she said, standing outside stakes barn D on Preakness morning. “Then I plug in the other odds and ends.”

An MJC lifer that has worked in various roles at the track, Overmier became stall manager last year, when 30-year veteran of the job Charlie Hall retired.

In the days after the Derby, Overmier spends a lot of time on the phone, figuring out when all the stakes contenders—not just the Preakness runners—are going to arrive. But arrival times are just the start of it.

“We need to know whether they want shavings or straw in the stalls,” she said, “and how many people are coming in. Then we’re here at all hours when they come in. Some people don’t give us a lot of notice, and we end up getting a call in the wee hours of the morning.”

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