Artax

A highly competitive race looms in the Grade II, $200,000 Dixie, the turf showdown over 1 1/8 miles that will headline today's Preakness undercard.Included in the field are Sky Colony, second to Yagli in this event last year, Sharp Appeal, who has Edgar Prado in the saddle, and Elliott Walden-trained Merlin's Ring.Sharp Appeal has the highest lifetime earnings in the field -- more than $500,000 -- and was third in the 1997 Dixie behind Ops Smile. He finished second to Federal Trial in the Hialeah Turf Cup in his most recent outing.

WHEN THE MARYLAND Terrapins reached the men's Final Four for the first time in March, a reporter from Kentucky said to me: "Looks like it's the year for a Maryland-bred to win the Kentucky Derby." Meaning, of course, that Baltimore and Maryland were on quite a roll with the Ravens winning the Super Bowl and the Terps reaching the Final Four, and with the Triple Crown season looming, the karma for adding to the parade of local champions was strong. Then Abingdon's Hasim Rahman fell out of the sky as the heavyweight champion of the world in April, adding to the perception that the roads to all glories suddenly were passing through here.

ARCADIA, Calif. -- Seven of the past 12 winners of the Kentucky Derby trained in California. So when seven 3-year-olds slip into the starting gate today in the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby, the Kentucky Derby winner may be among them.Randy Bradshaw, a former assistant to reigning Kentucky Derby master D. Wayne Lukas, trains Artax, the likely favorite in the Grade I race. He is a pleasant, articulate horseman from Utah, 47 years old, who trained the Maryland-breds Urbane and Latin Dancer.Bradshaw has never saddled a Kentucky Derby starter, but he worked for Lukas 10 years ago, when the filly Winning Colors won the Santa Anita and Kentucky derbys.

The pace should be fast, the track conditions uncertain and this is what else I think I know about the 124th running of the world's most intriguing race.Favorite Trick, last year's Horse of the Year, seems a risky proposition at the Derby distance. His best asset however, is trainer Billy Mott, a distance specialist.Still, Favorite Trick probably will need a major rainstorm to stay in the race. In 1997, his most impressive performance was a smashing, 3 1/2 -length win in the rain-soaked Saratoga Special.

Call me chicken. Call it a cop-out. I did not vote for Horse of the Year. I didn't think any thoroughbred racing in North America last year was worthy. What do you think? Let me know (see box), and in two weeks -- Jan. 16, the day before the winner will be announced at the Eclipse awards dinner in Beverly Hills, Calif. -- I'll report back to you with The Sun readers' choice for Horse of the Year. The three finalists have been named based on voting by turf writers, racing secretaries and employees of the Daily Racing Form.

Who can forget Preakness 2006, when Barbaro, a favorite to win the Triple Crown, collapsed in the first furlong with a fractured leg, prompting a police-escorted caravan up Interstate 95 to a veterinary hospital in Pennsylvania? Or Preakness 2002, when Baltimore police officers removed their badges and nameplates and were caught on video hitting a spectator with a baton during a melee in the raucous infield, embarrassing the department when it was aired nationally on ESPN? Or Preakness 1999, when drunken Lee Chang Ferrell scaled an infield fence, stood in front of eight charging horses during the seventh race — thankfully, not the live-on-national-television stakes race — and swung at the favorite, Artax?

Jovial Brush surged from behind to overtake favored Search for Luv in the stretch and pulled away for a 1 3/4-length triumph in the $75,000 Montpelier Stakes, the topper of the De Francis Dash undercard yesterday at Laurel Park.The victory broke a four-race drought for the gray son of Broad Brush, whose last win was at Delaware Park in April.Trainer Dick Small credited his jockey, Jozbin Santana, with a strong ride over the six-furlong distance of the MATCH series race that drew only five entries.

When Jorge Chavez returned to New York after winning the Kentucky Derby and walked into the paddock at Belmont Park, the fans erupted in applause. Horse racing is a sport in which the jockey is often vilified (nearly always by disgruntled bettors). Yet Chavez, who will ride Monarchos on Saturday in the Preakness, is the exception: the jockey everybody likes. "He is one of the most sincere, honest, sensitive human beings I've ever been around," said John Ward Jr., trainer of Monarchos.

A 22-year-old Harford County man accused of walking onto the track at Pimlico Race Course before last month's Preakness and standing in front of eight racing horses waived his right to a preliminary hearing yesterday in Baltimore District Court.An arraignment for Lee Chang Ferrell of Bel Air will be scheduled within 60 days, said Francine Stokes, a spokeswoman for the state's attorney's office.Ferrell, who remained free on $2,500 bail, declined to comment after the hearing. His lawyer, Frederic Heyman, said, "At this point, we haven't made any decision on what direction to take" in Ferrell's defense.

ARCADIA, Calif. -- The snow-capped peaks of the San Gabriel Mountains loom beyond the backstretch at Santa Anita Park. But Bob Baffert's heart beats fast for the desert.Six days ago, Silver Charm won the $4 million Dubai World Cup in the Middle East with a courageous effort reminiscent of Cigar's in 1996. On Wednesday, Silver Charm arrived back at his home stall, and yesterday he peered out and yawned as Baffert -- before looking ahead to tomorrow's Santa Anita Derby -- looked back at Dubai.