Derby

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.

Most of the horses in the stakes barns at Pimlico Race Course had cleared out by 8:30 Sunday morning, having loaded into vans under the cover of early-morning rain. Plates with pieces of cake left over from last night's victory party for Oxbow dotted the ground near trainer D. Wayne Lukas' temporary office, as did a few emptied beer bottles. As he said he would, Lukas began loading his horses into a van bound for Louisville less than 12 hours after winning his 14th Triple Crown race, a new record.

(NOTE: To download Liam's full cheat sheet for all of Saturday's races, click here . Following is his analysis on the Preakness Stakes.)   There are always lots of hard luck stories in the Kentucky Derby, and some of those hard luck horses come to the Preakness looking to set the record straight. Several of those guys are here to take on Orb. And a handful more Derby grumblers are skipping the Preakness to set their sights on the Belmont. However, recent history shows that the Derby winner tends to back up the Derby win and beat most if not all of those Derby finishers again.

No Triple Crown winner this year, no first-female-jockey-to-win, no sunshine? No problem, said those who flocked to Pimlico Race Course on Saturday and waited out a midafternoon downpour to watch Oxbow leave behind Kentucky Derby winner Orb to capture the 138th Preakness Stakes. "This is always an exciting race," said Tom Meek, 59, of Phoenixville, Pa., smoking a postrace cigar. "As much as I love Orb and as much as I want a Triple Crown, this is great for Oxbow. That horse rocked.

With nearly every eye at Pimlico fixated on either the uncatchable leader, Oxbow, or the Kentucky Derby winner and heavy betting favorite, Orb, Itsmyluckyday cruised under the radar to earn a little bit of redemption in Saturday's Preakness. After failing to challenge Orb on the muddy track at Churchill Downs two weeks ago and finishing near the back of the pack, Itsmyluckyday finished in second place in the middle jewel of the Triple Crown. "We did run our race, but we just weren't lucky enough to win," trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. said.

May. 18, Post Time: 10:45AM Entries and comments provided by the Maryland Jockey Club First - Purse $55,000, AOC $25,000-$20,000, 3 yo's & up, One And One Sixteenth Miles Post, Horse, Jockey, Trainer, Odds 1 Aussi Austin, Rosario, R.Rodriguez, 3-1 2 Bob's Gone Wild, Vargas, J.Lopez, 20-1 3 Jarrod's Commando, Karamanos, C.Garcia, 10-1 4 Warrensburg, Boyce, D.Barr, 20-1 5 Benny Or Local, Cruise, D.Kobiskie,...

Bob Baffert strode into the Preakness stakes barn Friday morning, shouting toward Orb's trainer Shug McGaughey loud enough so all could hear. "OK, Shug, I'm here to take away that media spotlight for you," he said. Baffert, indeed, is one of the few people in the sport who could have swiped some of the attention from McGaughey and his heavily favored colt this week . Baffert has won the Preakness five times, and on three occasions he's moved on to Belmont with a chance at the Triple Crown.

For many folks headed to Preakness, the focus of the afternoon isn't the race. It's the fashion — and we don't just mean hats. If you're in the grandstands, the Jockey Club area or Corporate Village, you'll want to dress the part. Betsy Dugan, owner of Bettina Collections in Cross Keys and former co-owner of Octavia in Pikesville, has been dressing women for Preakness for years. "This is the time ... to dress up," she said. If there's one rule of thumb, it's that ladies and gentlemen at Preakness should look like ...well, ladies and gentlemen.

If the Black Eyed Susan were a race horse, it would be a sprinter. It makes one strong move, then fades quickly. The strong move occurs this weekend when the cocktail will be in demand at Pamlico Race Track, during both the running of the Black Eyed Susan Stakes on Friday and the Preakness Stakes on Saturday. Over these two days, about 25,000 servings of the libation, poured into commemorative glasses, will be sold at $8 apiece, track officials say. But as soon as Preakness weekend ends, so does the does the local thirst for the Susan.

Among the concerns for jockeys at the Preakness today is the weather. Shortly before rain began to fall minutes ago, jockeys were watching the skies. Some know all too well that their horses don't respond to sloppy tracks, and they were holding out hope that the rain stayed away from Pimlico Race Cource. “I hope it stays like this [without rain] and I hope he likes the track.” said John Velazquez, who is riding Itsmyluckyday. “[Itsmyluckyday] is another horse that didn't run very good in the slop at Churchill Downs.” Itsmyluckyday finished 15th at The Kentucky Derby with Elvis Trujilloaboard.

With nearly every eye at Pimlico fixated on either the uncatchable leader, Oxbow, or the Kentucky Derby winner and heavy betting favorite, Orb, Itsmyluckyday cruised under the radar to earn a little bit of redemption in Saturday's Preakness. After failing to challenge Orb on the muddy track at Churchill Downs two weeks ago and finishing near the back of the pack, Itsmyluckyday finished in second place in the middle jewel of the Triple Crown. "We did run our race, but we just weren't lucky enough to win," trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. said.

Maryland Jockey Club senior vice president for communications Mike Gathagan credentialed more than 1,600 media members for the 138th Preakness. We talked to a few of them to get their take on how Saturday's race might end up. Not surprisingly, they went heavy on even-money favorite Orb, with a healthy dose of Mylute, the top challenger out of the Kentucky Derby ridden by former Maryland leading rider Rosie Napravnik. Jennie Rees, Louisville Courier-Journal 1. Orb 2. Departing 3. Itsmyluckyday Jerry Bossert, New York Daily News 1. Orb 2. Itsmyluckyday 3. Goldencents Tim Wilkin, Albany Times Union 1. Itsmyluckyday 2. Orb 3. Goldencents Gary Mihoces, USA Today 1. Mylute 2. Orb 3. Goldencents Bill Dwyre, Los Angeles Times 1. Goldencents 2. Orb 3. Mylute Claire Novak, Blood Horse 1. Orb 2. Departing 3. Mylute Gabby Gaudet, Maryland Jockey Club analyst in waiting 1. Orb 2. Mylute 3. Goldencents Richard Migliore, HRTV 1. Orb 2. Departing 3. Will Take Charge

Kentucky Derby winner Orb continues getting accustomed to his temporary Maryland home, which involves mostly eating the grass on a small plot of land outside his stall at Pimlico Race Course. He did that for another 40 minutes -- as per a routine trainer Shug McGaughey keeps with almost all of his horses -- after walking the shed row Tuesday morning. The Malibu Moon colt was due a break after a fast breeze Monday morning at Belmont Park before shipping down I-95 into the home state of his co-owner, Butler resident Stuart Janney III. Orb does not appear bothered by anything at this point.

For a sudden media phenomenon, Orb was remarkably relaxed on the morning of his first full day at Pimlico Tuesday as he gets ready to tackle the second jewel of racing's Triple Crown in Saturday's 138 th running of the Preakness Stakes. “He's got plenty of energy,” Shug McGaughey, Orb's trainer, told a small group of reporters and photographers outside the stakes barn at Pimlico, shortly after Orb had walked in the shed row and received his morning bath. “He's settled in well.” The bay muscular colt's chief attention Tuesday appeared to be focused on the long grassy area that sits just across the path from his stall and runs along the perimeter fence.

Orb's reputation began growing at Churchill Downs the Monday before the Kentucky Derby, when the colt breezed four furlongs in 47.80. The run looked effortless and made Orb the talk of Louisville - and the morning-line favorite. Though there is no doubt he will be an overwhelming favorite for Saturday's 138 th running of the Preakness, Orb again turned in a promising breeze -- in which he's basically allowed to run without much guidance from the rider -- the Monday before the race.

Orb, the Kentucky Derby winner who will be the favorite to win Saturday's 138th running of the Preakness, rarely enters his stall until he has had time to graze. On Monday afternoon, the strapping colt co-owned by Baltimore County resident Stuart Janney III, had his first taste of Maryland's turf. He walked off a large transport van at about 3:20 p.m., striding past the assembled media toward Pimlico Race Course's Barn E. There, he has been assigned stall number 40, which housed all three Triple Crown winners of the 1970s during their trips to Baltimore.

One of the colts entered in Saturday's 138th running of the Preakness Stakes can lay claim to a distinction not shared by seven others:  He's actually finished ahead of the expected favorite Orb in a race. Titletown Five, one of three Preakness entries trained by Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, and Orb were both entered in a seven-furlong, maiden special weight race for 2-year-olds at Saratoga last Aug. 18. Maiden special weights are for horses that have never won a race in their career.

Historical trends at play in tomorrow's Kentucky Derby:1: No favorite has won the Derby since Spectacular Bid in 1979. The likely favorites will be the coupled betting entry of General Challenge and Excellent Meeting. If Excellent Meeting is scratched, Prime Timber may be the favorite.2: No 2-year-old champion (a horse becomes a "champion" by winning an Eclipse award) has won the Derby since Spectacular Bid in 1979. Answer Lively, last year's 2-year-old champion, is 50-1 in the morning line.

Kentucky Derby winner Orb continues training toward Preakness from the track at Belmont Park. He galloped a mile and a quarter Friday morning for trainer Shug McGaughey, who was happy with what he saw. Orb should arrive in Baltimore by Monday afternoon. The Malibu Moon colt can become the 13thhorse to win both the Derby and Preakness since Affirmed completed the Triple Crown in 1978. Co-owned by Baltimore County resident Stuart Janney III, Orb won the Derby by two-and-a-half lengths, and appears likely to be a heavy favorite in the 138th Preakness.

Some years, Maryland Jockey Club stakes coordinator Coley Blind has to turn horses away from the Preakness.  He and other members of the staff may look through the credentials of 20 horses, calculating their earnings -- the Preakness uses a fairly complicated three-tiered system -- to determine the 14-horse field. Not this year. As of Friday afternoon, connections for only seven horses had confirmed they planned to enter the race, and five others had been identified as strong possibilities.