It's just one long, drunken yard party. Sure, there are horse races going on, but those who watch the Preakness Stakes from the Pimlico infield say the galloping beasts are hardly as interesting as the beer consumption, frozen T-shirt contests, twister games and general revelry that occur all day leading up to the Big Event.
"Mostly it is just mayhem," said Susan Fortkiewicz, 26, who "watches" the Preakness from the infield regularly. "Out of the eight years I've gone, I've probably only seen an actual horse twice."
The 130th Preakness Stakes is Saturday. Post time is 6:05 p.m. -- but infield festivities start 10 hours earlier.
In past years, more than 60,000 people have squeezed into the infield -- the oval of grass enclosed by the race track (accessible via a tunnel). People line up at the gates early in the morning to secure a patch of grass.
When the Pimlico gates open at 8 a.m., those in line surge into the park.
"It is like chasing the bulls; they just sprint," said Mike Gathagan, a spokesman for Pimlico. Gathagan's office overlooks the infield, and he enjoys watching as tens of thousands of people crowd into the field. "You see the green [grass] slowly disappear," he said.
Perennial infielders tend to flock to the same area year after year, so despite the sizable crowd, people see others that they know at Preakness.
Boys flirt with girls, and vice versa. Sometimes it goes even further. Nevertheless, Preakness probably isn't a good place to find a long-term relationship. "Most people won't remember your name by the end of the day," said Fortkiewicz.
Inclement weather hardly dampens the mood. "You wouldn't believe how many people show up in pouring rain just to sit in a grass field and drink," said Fortkiewicz. "You just let yourself go. But I always have extra paper towels to stay presentable throughout the day."
This year's live entertainment will be provided by radio station 98 Rock. One of its events will have contestants don a T-shirt encased in a block of ice. Whoever chips off enough ice to pry the hardened material over his or her head will win.
The radio station also will name a Mr. and a Ms. Preakness Infield. The award goes to "a girl and guy that exude the positive attributes of the infield," said 98 Rock Program Director Dave Hill. He declined to expand on qualifying attributes. However, he did say the final four people play a game of Twister on stage.
The Preakness infield "is really a social event," said Nick Mastrogiannis, a Baltimorean who has braved the infield every year since 1996.
Despite his many fond memories -- including one year when a drunk infielder attempted to tackle a horse midrace -- Mastrogiannis will watch the Preakness from the more upscale grandstand this year. "I'm getting a little bit too old for the infield," said Mastrogiannis, 28. "Usually it is full of college students, and people used to getting trashed all day."
Tickets to the infield are $40 in advance and $50 the day of the race and are available via Ticketmaster (www.ticketmas ter.com) The gates open at 8 a.m. Saturday. The Preakness Stakes will be run at 6:05 p.m. Pimlico is at 5301 Park Heights Ave.
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