At the risk of stating the obvious, this year’s Triple Crown became something different from what we were used to the minute that Churchill Downs announced that it would host the Kentucky Derby on September 5. We’d suspected before that, of course. A month before the traditional Derby date, virtually the entire country was limiting…
Two days before the Preakness, Dr. Kelly Ryan is sitting on a floor in the Pimlico grandstand, staring intently at her computer, responding to texts, and greeting passersby. You’d never know that among the many people who will have to make decisions this weekend—trainers about running, jockeys about strategy, stewards about inquiries, bettors about wagers—she,…
According to the Maryland Jockey Club’s logo for the feature race at Pimlico this Saturday, this year is Preakness 143. That would mean that the first edition of the race was run in 1873, when Survivor won it. (1918 counts twice, because there were two divisions that year.) If you go by the June 3,…
From the moment a horse crosses the finish line in the Kentucky Derby (and sometimes even before that), Triple Crown obsession begins. The racing world, in which few interested parties, from track executives to marketers to bettors, can agree, comes as close to consensus as it gets in hoping that a horse will sweep the…
Pimlico: The Grade I, $1.5 million Preakness at 1 3/16 miles #1 American Pharoah (4-5): Kentucky Derby hero parlayed a perfect post and dream trip to glory when he pulled away from Firing Line in deep stretch, but will be afforded no such luxuries Saturday from what is nothing short of a very treacherous draw.…
The Preakness is Maryland’s race: it’s “Maryland, My Maryland” and black-eyed Susans and blue crabs. It’s so important to the state that when financial difficulties threatened racing in Maryland,the governor stepped in to make sure that the Preakness would stay in Baltimore. But 125 years ago, when financial woes imperiled the racing industry in Maryland,…
Pimlico: The Grade I, $1.5 million Preakness at 1 3/16 miles #1 Dynamic Impact: Rapidly improving son of Tiznow exits a fast win in the GIII Illinois Derby at Hawthorne but certainly tests the big boys today in his first GI assignment. Casse charge has come to hand in his last two, which includes an…
A year ago, Kentucky Derby winner Orb was practically pronounced a Triple Crown winner in the two weeks between his win at Churchill Downs and the Preakness Stakes. Whether the rigors of the prep season had their toll or whether he didn’t like the track at Pimlico, the odds-on favorite finished fourth and never won…
With this year’s Kentucky Derby a little over two months away—May 3—here are 10 things to know about this year’s Triple Crown series. 1) The penultimate Kentucky Derby future wager closes Saturday at 4:17 pm, post time for the Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York. The race carried a total of 85…
The Preakness is Maryland’s race: it’s “Maryland, My Maryland” and black-eyed Susans and blue crabs. It’s so important to the state that when financial difficulties threatened racing in Maryland,the governor stepped in to make sure that the Preakness would stay in Baltimore. But 120 years ago, when financial woes imperiled the racing industry in Maryland, nothing…
Brooklyn Backstretch 