A man from the infield walked onto the track at Pimlico yesterday three races before the Preakness, stood in front of eight thundering thoroughbreds but escaped injury when horses veered sharply and barely missed him.
No horses or jockeys in the Maryland Breeders' Cup Handicap, the seventh of 12 races, were hurt.
The man, identified by police as Lee Ferrell, ran onto the track about 2: 55 p.m. and was arrested minutes later. The 22-year-old suspect, from the 100 block of Walden Road in Bel Air, was taken into custody and transported to Sinai Hospital for psychiatric evaluation, police said.
He had not been charged as of last night pending the outcome of the evaluation, said Sgt. Scott Rowe, a police spokesman.
To reach the track from the infield, Ferrell climbed over a chain-link fence and walked across the turf course. He ducked under the inner rail of the dirt track and stepped onto the track as the horses rounded the final turn.
No one tried to stop him. No security workers were seen in the vicinity.
As the horses raced down the homestretch in front of the packed grandstand, Ferrell stood directly in Artax's path, forcing the colt's jockey, Jorge Chavez, to steer abruptly around him. As Artax passed, the man threw a wild right-handed punch at the horse. The man's fist brushed Chavez's right leg.
"I thought he was going to keep running, but he stopped," Chavez said of Ferrell, who wore a tank top and shorts. "He was waiting for my horse."
Artax was trailing Yes It's True, the eventual winner. Ferrell stood still, facing the horses. He let Yes It's True and his jockey Jerry Bailey pass along the rail. He seemed fixated on Artax.
"He was looking straight at my horse," Chavez said.
Ferrell raised both fists to shoulder level, then assumed a boxing stance. Chavez said he considered cutting to the inside or the outside, but decided to wait in case the man stepped to either side into his path.
At the last moment, Chavez jerked Artax to the inside, just missing Ferrell and his wild punch. Artax collided with Purple Passion, and other horses altered course.
Afterward, in the jockey's room, a shaken Chavez said: "This should never happen, this stuff. He could be killed. My horse could be killed or broke down. I could be paralyzed."
Joseph A. De Francis, president and chief executive officer of the Maryland Jockey Club, said that, although more than 1,000 security guards staffed Pimlico on its biggest day, no guards protected that part of the track.
