| As the field takes shape for the 131st running of | | | | Greeley's Legacy's last win was in February in a |
| the Preakness Stakes this Saturday, the question | | | | $75k Optional Claiming race at Aqueduct and has |
| on everyone's minds is do we finally have a horse | | | | never won a stakes race. |
| that can win the Triple Crown? | | | | Diabolical ridden by Ramon Dominguez is 2 for 8 |
| On paper, Barbaro is the horse to beat, and after | | | | lifetime with his last outing and first win of the |
| his decisive win at the Kentucky Derby, he | | | | year on April 25 in an $38k Allowance race at |
| appears capable of beating all comers. But this is | | | | Delaware, winning by 8 1/4 lengths. Diabolical has |
| horse racing and no matter how it looks on paper | | | | no Graded Stakes wins having finished on better |
| we still have to run the race. | | | | than second at this level. |
| Barbaro with Edgar Prado on board has won all 6 | | | | Hemingway's Key with Jeremy Rose up is 2 for 6 |
| of his lifetime starts, 4 of his wins in 2006 and all | | | | lifetime and 0 for 4 this year. His last time out |
| at distances of a mile or more (his first 3 races | | | | was April 22 in the Lexington Grade 2 finishing |
| were on the turf). Barbaro will be the odds on | | | | eighth by 9 lengths, 4 1/2 lengths behind Greeley's |
| favorite for the Preakness. Gone are the double | | | | Legacy and has finished no better than sixth in |
| digit returns when we picked him for the Derby | | | | Graded Stakes competition. |
| so most of us are left looking for horses to | | | | Platinum Couple rounds out the field of nine with |
| combine him with for the exacta, trifecta and | | | | Jose Espinoza aboard again and is 2 for 9 lifetime |
| superfecta wagers. Even though we want to see | | | | and 0 for 4 this year. Platinum Couple finished fifth |
| him win, at the probable scant return for a win, | | | | in his only Graded Stakes outing, the Wood |
| one must look to see if there's a horse in the field | | | | Memorial in April, and his last win was in |
| that can best him. | | | | December in the Damon Runyon Stakes at |
| Now that Ah Day has passed on the Preakness, | | | | Aqueduct. |
| eight other horses will be looking to spoil Barbaro's | | | | Can Barbaro win the Preakness and go on to be |
| bid for the second leg of the Triple Crown. Two | | | | the next Triple Crown winner? He has the |
| are returning from their Derby bids and six more | | | | breeding and the talent, but one hundred and |
| that skipped the Run for the Roses. | | | | thirty two horses have won the Kentucky Derby, |
| Brother Derek with Alex Solis up finished in a | | | | to date only twenty horses have gone on to win |
| dead heat for fourth in the Derby, 9 1/2 lengths | | | | the Preakness. Will Barbaro make it twenty one? |
| back after being steadied twice. With a career | | | | Preakness Facts: |
| record of 6 wins out of 9 starts (3 out of 4 this | | | | The first Preakness Stakes was held in 1873 with |
| year) Brother Derek had 4 straight wins before | | | | a prize of $2,050.00 at Pimlico Race Course in |
| the Derby. | | | | Maryland at a distance of a mile and a half, but |
| Sweetnorthernsaint ridden by Kent Desormeaux | | | | has been run at six different distances between a |
| was favored to win the Derby, but finished a | | | | mile and a mile and a half before stabilizing at a |
| disappointing seventh by 13 lengths. That though, | | | | mile and three sixteenths in 1925 |
| after a bumped start and being steadied before | | | | Pimlico is America's second oldest active track |
| finally tiring. With a lifetime 3 wins out of 7 starts, | | | | The Preakness Stakes is named after Preakness |
| all 3 have come this year, and the shorter | | | | the first horse to win the "Dinner Party Stakes" |
| distance of the Preakness might be more to his | | | | (now known as the Dixie) which was the first |
| liking. | | | | stakes race run on Pimlico's opening day October |
| Bernardini with Javier Castellano in the saddle is | | | | 25, 1870 |
| the most lightly raced entrant, beginning his career | | | | The Preakness has not always been run at |
| in January of this year and is 2 wins for 3 starts | | | | Pimlico; from 1890 until 1908 it was held at in New |
| with his last race April 29 winning the Withers | | | | York, first at Morris Park and later at Gravesend, |
| Grade 3 at Aqueduct. The question is can he step | | | | these are known as "the Lost Preaknesses" |
| his game up to Grade 1 level. | | | | Survivor won the first Preakness by 10 lengths, |
| Like Now with either Garret Gomez or F. Jara in | | | | still the largest margin of victor to date |
| the stirrups is 4 for 8 lifetime and 3 for 4 this | | | | Four fillies have won the Preakness |
| year having won 3 straight before finishing second | | | | Slightly more than half to the Preakness races |
| in the Lexington Grade 2 by 1 1/4 lengths but still | | | | have been won by bays |
| in front of Greeley's Legacy by 3 1/4 lengths and | | | | A Pimlico tradition since 1909; as soon as the |
| Hemingway's Key by 7 3/4 lengths. Like Now | | | | Preakness winner is declared official a painter |
| won his only other outing at this distance in the | | | | applies the colors of the winner's silks to the |
| Gotham Grade 3 in March where he beat | | | | weather vane atop the replica of the Old |
| Sweetnorthernsaint who finished third by 3/4 | | | | Clubhouse cupola, the original having been |
| lengths. | | | | destroyed by fire in 1966 |
| Greeley's Legacy with Richard Migliore signed on | | | | In 1918 the Preakness was run in two divisions |
| to ride was last out April 22 in the Lexington | | | | due to the number of entrants providing two |
| Grade 2 and finished fourth by 4 1/2 lengths to | | | | Preakness winners that year, War Cloud and Jack |
| Showing Up. At only 2 wins out of 11 tries, | | | | Hare Jr. |