Alydeed

When Barclay Tagg started training in Maryland about 20 years ago, he was happy to get stalls at Timonium.This winter, he's been sharing a barn at Gulfstream Park with Shug McGaughey, trainer for the Ogden Phipps family.Tagg admits it's been euphoric.He looks down his shed row and sees 28 horses, mostly all stakes and allowance caliber.Miss Josh, rated the nation's third-best turf mare last year in the Eclipse voting, has had the winter off."We missed days training on the grass course because of rain," he said.

Jockey Walter Guerra said he was extremely impressed with Dance Floor yesterday morning."I think this is the horse to beat in the Preakness," Guerra said after taking the bay colt through a half-mile workout in 47 seconds, a sharp time, but not overly pressing.The Kentucky Derby's third-place finisher was one of the first horses on the track and went the last furlong in a strong 11 seconds."It was a little faster than I wanted to, but it was as easy as he could go," said trainer D. Wayne Lukas.

Jockey Walter Guerra said he was extremely impressed with Dance Floor yesterday morning."I think this is the horse to beat in the Preakness," Guerra said after taking the bay colt through a half-mile workout in 47 seconds, a sharp time, but not overly pressing.The Kentucky Derby's third-place finisher was one of the first horses on the track and went the last furlong in a strong 11 seconds."It was a little faster than I wanted to, but it was as easy as he could go," said trainer D. Wayne Lukas.

xTC Slow Derby. Fast Preakness.That's the likely scenario today, when 14 3-year-olds half of them starters in the slow-motion Kentucky Derby break from the gate in the 117th Preakness.There are several different kinds of speed horses in the race. Speakerphone, Technology and Alydeed have early speed; Dance Floor, Casual Lies and Pine Bluff use tactical speed; Conte Di Savoya and Kentucky Derby winner Lil E. Tee are closers.The rest of the field is made up of a potpourri of lesser animals who have yet to prove themselves in the big leagues.

Tomorrow is the biggest day of the year for Maryland horse racing. Fourteen 3-year-old thoroughbreds, racing a mile and 3/16th, in front of 90,000-plus spectators and a television audience of tens of millions. A total purse of $744,800 ($484,000 BTC of it for the winner). In search of the famed Woodlawn Vase, emblematic of victory in the 117th running of the Preakness Stakes, the midway point in racing's Triple Crown.Forget about the feuding owners of Pimlico Race Course. Forget about yesterday's superhorse, Arazi, who flopped so badly at the Kentucky Derby the horse is back in Paris instead of in Baltimore.

Only four of the 14 horses who competed Saturday in the Preakness are expected to run in the $500,000-added Belmont Stakes in three weeks.As of yesterday, Pine Bluff, Alydeed and Casual Lies, the first three Preakness finishers, are Belmont-bound, as well as Agincourt, who finished seventh.But that doesn't mean the third leg of the Triple Crown will attract a small field.New competitors are expected to emerge from the Peter Pan Stakes, also at Belmont Park, on May 24. Additional starters could come from Europe.

Only four of the 14 horses that competed Saturday in the Preakness are expected to run in the $500,000-added Belmont Stakes in three weeks.As of yesterday, Pine Bluff, Alydeed and Casual Lies, the first three Preakness finishers, are Belmont-bound, as well as Agincourt, who finished seventh.But that doesn't mean the third leg of the Triple Crown will attract a small field.New competitors are expected to emerge from the Peter Pan Stakes, also at Belmont Park, on May 24. Additional starters could come from Europe.

Conte Di Savoya is fast earning a reputation as an equine pit bull.On Wednesday, he dumped his rider, Walter Guerra, and kicked him in the ribs.Yesterday, he bit Shelley Riley, trainer of rival Casual Lies.Riley showed reporters a large bruise at the bottom of her back where the horse had grabbed her as she walked by his stall."He's one I'm staying away from," Riley said.Riley showed friends a sketch of Casual Lies that one of his fans had sent her.She also received some hate mail from one fan who took her to task for removing Alan Patterson as the horse's rider.

There's only one trainer in Saturday's 118th Preakness who named his dog after a Baltimore Colt football player.The dog's name was Bert Jones.The trainer is Frank Alexander, who will saddle Cherokee Run at Pimlico. When Jones was quarterbacking the Colts two decades ago, Alexander was managing Alfred Vanderbilt's Sagamore Farm in Glyndon. Like most sports-minded people around here at that time, Alexander was a Colts fan.Since then, Baltimore hasn't seen a whole lot of either Jones, who is working in Louisiana, or of Frank Alexander, who has been training horses in New York and Florida.

The father of Dance Floor owner Hammer today said his sons had been "a little hot" in implying racism was at work in the selection of the horse's poor post position."