Churchill Downs

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- It may be the scene of history's greatest racing, but in some areas the paint is peeling off in sheets. A mysterious liquid rains down, year after year, on fans in line at the betting windows beneath the grandstand. And the only food conveniently available is a flavorless wiener sold euphemistically as the "Big Frank."Pimlico Race Course? No, Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby.We've grown used to tales of woe at Pimlico, an aging and unloved hulk in north Baltimore.

After shining upon an array of racetracks around the country, the spotlight now focuses upon Churchill Downs. There, under the twin spires, the chosen few have come. The high-strung, muscular, powerful and beautiful thoroughbreds who have qualified (at least in their owners' minds) for the Kentucky Derby have descended upon the historic track in Louisville, Ky. They've begun working out in the dim morning light in final preparation for what has been called the most exciting two minutes in sports.

Key workouts by four major Preakness contenders are planned this morning at Pimlico and Churchill Downs. The Preakness is Saturday at Pimlico. Here in Baltimore, A P Valentine will breeze for his trainer, Nick Zito. "It won't be anything fancy," Zito said. At Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., the Bob Baffert-trained pair of Congaree and Point Given will work an expected five furlongs each. Congaree, third in the Kentucky Derby, and Point Given, fifth in the Derby, would likely be the main threats in the Preakness to Monarchos, the Kentucky Derby winner.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - As racing fans in Maryland wait for the promised remodeling of Pimlico Race Course, home of the Preakness, visitors to the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs will find the sprawling track undergoing a $121 million renovation. Nearly all of the grandstand and clubhouse is being rebuilt - save for the twin spires and the section underneath. The idea is to turn the seasonal track into a year-round "entertainment and business facility" with skyboxes, luxury suites, restaurants and bars, as well as upgrade the racing experience with a food court, simulcast arena, seating areas, gift shop and rooms for high rollers, said John Asher, a Churchill vice president.

Despite an apparent outbreak of equine herpes at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., the eight Preakness horses stabled at Churchill were allowed to travel by plane yesterday to Baltimore-Washington International Airport and then by van to Pimlico Race Course. Equine herpes is a potentially fatal virus that causes respiratory and neurological problems. The Kentucky Department of Agriculture has ordered three Churchill barns quarantined, meaning that horses stabled there can't leave the barn.

The purse of the Kentucky Derby, the country's marquee horse race, has been doubled from $1 million to $2 million, Churchill Downs officials announced yesterday in Louisville, Ky. The Kentucky Derby is the first leg of the Triple Crown, the sport's most celebrated racing series. The Preakness, the second leg, takes place at Pimlico, and the Belmont, the third leg, takes place at Belmont Park in New York. Since 1998, the three races have each carried a $1 million purse. Maryland Jockey Club executives said they would evaluate the possibility of raising the value of the Preakness, but Lou Raffetto Jr., MJC chief operating officer, said: "We're in a tough spot right now."

First things first: Grantland has a terrific look-back at Hunter S. Thompson's "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved. " I always start the Derby primer with a link to this story -- and by always, I mean I also did it last year -- and this adds even more context to how the story came about. A very popular question I receive from fellow Baltimoreans upon my return to our fair city by the bay is: How does the Derby compare to Preakness? The answer I ended up giving usually went something like this: The Preakness debauchery seems to be compressed into one day and in one spot, the infield, where once upon a time people ran across the portable toilets for sport.

Here's a basic truth that most people in horse racing can agree on: The best horse in the field doesn't always win the Kentucky Derby. That doesn't mean Eskendereya, who will head to Churchill Downs as the biggest favorite in years, has any built-in excuses if he gets beat in the first leg of the 2010 Triple Crown. Right now, the Todd Pletcher-trained chestnut colt looks so talented, he should be able to overcome some of pitfalls that tend to take down Derby favorites. He should go off as the shortest priced Derby favorite since Point Given was 9-to-5 in 2001.

The morning after the Kentucky Derby, regardless of who wins or loses, it begins. People start talking about the Preakness as if it were a race for skateboarders around hairpin turns. You hear about Pimlico's speed-favoring surface. You hear about Pimlico's tight turns. But ask the track superintendents at Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, and Pimlico Race Course, site of the Preakness two weeks later, and you discover this: The length of the stretches and the turns of the two tracks are virtually the same.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A walnut podium stands at one end of the Churchill Downs press box, where, traditionally, the owner, trainer and jockey of the winning Kentucky Derby horse field questions about what is perhaps their single greatest achievement.Yesterday, Bill Mott stood at the podium moments after the announcement that he had been selected for induction into the National Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame. At 44, Mott is the youngest trainer ever chosen for the honor.He has won Breeders' Cup races, Eclipse Awards and the Dubai World Cup. He trained Cigar.