Daily Racing

Orb's path to the finish line in the second leg of the Triple Crown remains uncrowded. Normandy Invasion, the fourth-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby, dropped from contention for Saturday's 138th running of the Preakness on Sunday. Trainer Chad Brown and owner Rick Porter decided to stick with their original plan and point the horse toward prestigous races for 3-year-olds later in the summer. That leaves Orb, the colt co-owned by Baltimore County resident Stuart Janney III and Ogden Mills "Dinny" Pipps' stable, with only seven confirmed challengers at this point.

Dan Borislow knows how to enliven a slow period in horse racing. He bought a full-page ad in yesterday's Daily Racing Form challenging the California-based Vindication to a showdown with his Toccet for the 2-year-old Eclipse Award. Borislow offered to bet the connections of Vindication $200,000 against their $100,000 that the Laurel-based Toccet would beat Vindication in the Hollywood Futurity on Dec. 21 at Hollywood Park. Anne and Satish Sanan's Padua Stables owns Vindication, and Bob Baffert trains him. Trouble is, Vindication has been out of serious training since winning the Breeders' Cup Juvenile on Oct. 26 at Arlington Park and isn't slated to race again until February or March.

The Daily Racing Form, the bible of the thoroughbred racing industry, is preparing to shut down its printing operation in Hightstown, N.J., and has notified its unions and independent contractors of plans for a "mass layoff" on May 31.Steve Adams, general manager of the Hightstown operation, said any announcement would be premature at this time because final plans had not been made. He said an announcement probably would come within the next three weeks.The layoff, he said, would affect about 50 employees, "and five or six others probably will be reassigned."

The weather was sultry, the crowd was small, and the regular announcer was sick with a stomach virus, but the racing pigs were unfazed as long as food was waiting at the finish line. Yesterday afternoon at the Howard County Fair, four little pigs ran gamely around the oval track padded with wood shavings. Four more pigs followed them in a second race, and then the "ugly pigs" came out for their turn - looking suspiciously like two groups of ducks waddling wildly to win. Lastly, a quartet of pygmy goats made their run. After they do the racing, the reward is feed waiting in their pens.

........................................ ...........................First................Second..............Third Tom Keyser, The Sun...................... Monarchos.. Point Given......Express Tour Keyser's comment: Point Given is the powerhouse, but can a favorite win the Kentucky Derby two years in a row? This race is just too hard to win. Point Given's temperament, post position or bad racing luck could hinder him. Monarchos showed in the Florida Derby that he has the rapid turn of foot it takes to win the Derby.

Dan Borislow knows how to enliven a slow period in horse racing. He bought a full-page ad in yesterday's Daily Racing Form challenging the California-based Vindication to a showdown with his Toccet for the 2-year-old Eclipse Award. Borislow offered to bet the connections of Vindication $200,000 against their $100,000 that the Laurel-based Toccet would beat Vindication in the Hollywood Futurity on Dec. 21 at Hollywood Park. Anne and Satish Sanan's Padua Stables owns Vindication, and Bob Baffert trains him. Trouble is, Vindication has been out of serious training since winning the Breeders' Cup Juvenile on Oct. 26 at Arlington Park and isn't slated to race again until February or March.

Clarence "Jo Jo" Ladner barely cracks the top 10 among the state's winningest jockeys.But his cadre of live stakes mounts -- Chip's Dancer, Broad Gains and the stable of well-bred horses owned by Israel Cohen and trained by Dean Gaudet -- have made him a power this year in added-money races.Yesterday he scored his fourth stakes win of 1993 when he won the Primonetta Handicap at Pimlico Race Course on the Cohen-owned Mixed Appeal.The hard-knocking mare has been stakes-placed on numerous occasions, but had never actually won an added-money race until she collared Singing Ring near the eighth pole yesterday and drew off to 1 3/4 -length victory.

Fans at Pimlico and Laurel, who long have relied on the Daily Racing Form for complete track information, soon will have a choice between two full-fledged turf dailies.Starting next Saturday, April 13, The Racing Times, billed as the first serious alternative to the Form, will hit the stands at Maryland tracks."This is not some cheapo, down-market, underfinanced competitor," editor Steve Crist said yesterday from New York, where the new publication is based. "It is a complete past performance paper that will cover racing like a real newspaper."

How they did: Seven of the 30 media members whose picks were published in yesterday's Sun correctly picked War Emblem to win the Preakness. No one correctly chose Magic Weisner to finish second, and two were right about third-place finisher Proud Citizen. Here are the media picks again, with horses' names in boldface if the finish was predicted correctly. Reporter, Affiliation First Second Third Tom Keyser, The Sun Proud Citizen Medaglia d'Oro Magic Weisner Steve Anderson, Daily Racing Form Equality Medaglia d'Oro War Eblem Kent Baker, The Sun Harlan's Holiday Proud Citizen Equality Andrew Beyer, Washington Post Medaglia d'Oro Harlan's Holiday War Emblem Dan Farley, Racing Post War Emblem Proud Citizen Easyfromthegitgo Mike Farrell, Bergen Record War Emblem Harlan's Holiday Medaglia d'Oro David Ginsburg, Associated Press War Emblem Medaglia d'Oro arlan's Holiday Ed Gray, Boston Herald Medaglia d'Oro USS Tinosa Easyfromthegitgo David Grening, Daily Racing Form Medaglia d'Oro War Emblem Equality Gene Guidi, Detroit Free Press Medaglia d'Oro War Emblem Proud Citizen Bill Handleman, Asbury Park Press Harlan's Holiday Medaglia d'Oro Equality Ron Indrisano, Boston Globe Medaglia d'Oro Harlan's Holiday Proud Citizen Dave Joseph, S. Fla. Sun-Sentinel Harlan's Holiday Proud Citizen Medaglia d'Oro Steve Klein, Daily Racing Form Proud Citizen Medaglia d'Oro War Emblem Dave Litfin, Daily Racing Form War Emblem Proud Citizen Equality Michele MacDonald, Thoroughbred...

They compete against each other daily, yet they dress in the same corner of the locker room. Either could finish the year with the most wins in the country, yet if one couldn't finish first, he would root for the other. Ramon Dominguez and Travis Dunkelberger, 24-year-old jockeys, occupy a rare place among riders in America. They compete side by side in Maryland as they battle nationally in the race for wins by jockeys. Dominguez, a smooth-riding native of Venezuela, ranks No. 2 in wins behind the veteran Russell Baze, who rides in Northern California.

Coronado's Quest begins his long-shot quest for racing's 3-year-old championship today in the $150,000 Dwyer Stakes at Belmont Park.Owned by Stuart S. Janney III of Butler in Baltimore County, Coronado's Quest ranks behind only three 3-year-old colts in Daily Racing Form's weekly Top 40: Real Quiet, No. 5; Victory Gallop, No. 8, and Indian Charlie, No. 24. Coronado's Quest ranks No. 28, one spot ahead of another 3-year-old, Favorite Trick.Janney said he believes the race for an Eclipse Award in the 3-year-old male division is wide-open despite the dominance of the Triple Crown by Real Quiet and Victory Gallop.

The August-September issue of The Maryland Horse will be its last as a magazine. Starting with the October issue, Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred will attempt to fill the void when it becomes a monthly.The Maryland Horse Breeders Association publishes both magazines. Tim Capps, executive vice president of the association, said its board of directors decided to streamline its publishing efforts by producing one monthly magazine focusing on thoroughbreds in the region. (The Maryland Horse will live on, meekly, as a newsletter inserted into Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred.