Horses

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.

For all of his laser focus on Saturday's Preakness, Claude "Shug" McGaughey couldn't help but dream ahead to the possibility of his colt, Orb, going for a Triple Crown at his home track of Belmont Park in New York. "I wouldn't be telling you the truth if I said I didn't think down the line a bit," McGaughey said. "I thought that if we could get it done today, going back to Belmont, we'd be comfortable there and we'd probably really have a big chance. " For McGaughey and Orb, the story ended the way it has for every other Triple Crown aspirant since 1978 - in defeat.

(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.

It's not always in the Preakness Stakes, but every year, John Carroll graduate Nicole Stall urges her husband, trainer Al Stall Jr., to find a race for one of his horses on the third Saturday in May. This year, Departing gave Al Stall his second Preakness mount, finishing sixth in the nine-horse race while his wife and her family were treated to another memorable Preakness Day. “I used to always come growing up, and we try and run horses on...

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.

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.

Kentucky Derby winner Orb is the even-money favorite for the Preakness, so the biggest topics leading up to the weekend have, obviously, been about his chances and how to beat him on Saturday. “The jockey was just here," Mylute jockey Rosie Napravnik, the fiery 25-year-old, shot back. "Ask him.” Though Napravnik eventually talked quite a bit about her thoughts on Orb and her possible strategies coming out of the gate -- Orb drew post-position No. 1, while Mylute is at No. 5 -- she has her own worries about Mylute.

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.

They likely won't recognize each other Saturday as they go to the gate for the 138th Preakness. Orb, the Kentucky Derby winner, and Departing, a horse some believe could be the only one capable of ending this year's Triple Crown chase in Baltimore, will be thinking of nothing but running. They will be two of nine horses trying to get to the front. Before they ever officially became racehorses, they were just two of eight horses in a field on the Kentucky farm where they were born.

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.

Handlers used special massage techniques to soothe Goldencents' muscular frame and sudsy sponges to stimulate the shine and bloom on the Preakness competitor's chocolate-colored coat - while a sizable entourage seemed transfixed. Outside the Pimlico stables, a green oasis tucked inside urban Northwest Baltimore, a crowd had gathered around Goldencents. Photographers took pictures. A cluster of men, women and children from a sunrise tour stopped to stare. Security guards looked on. The list of helpers, assistants and advisers for Goldencents and the other Preakness all-stars is longer than Stacy Keibler's prep team on Oscar night - grooms, exercise riders, hot walkers, trainers, jockeys, veterinarians, stall muckers, chiropractors, ultrasound technicians and nutritionists.

Kentucky Derby winner Orb is the even-money favorite for the Preakness, so the biggest topics leading up to the weekend have, obviously, been about his chances and how to beat him on Saturday. “The jockey was just here," Mylute jockey Rosie Napravnik, the fiery 25-year-old, shot back. "Ask him.” Though Napravnik eventually talked quite a bit about her thoughts on Orb and her possible strategies coming out of the gate -- Orb drew post-position No. 1, while Mylute is at No. 5 -- she has her own worries about Mylute.

Shug McGaughey, the trainer for Kentucky Derby winner Orb, attributes his calm demeanor since that race to maturity. Had he made it to the Preakness with a Triple Crown chance at a younger age, the 64-year-old insists, the scene would have been different. The kindly man in a sweater, face almost always softened in a sort of bemused wonderment, would be replaced by a high-strung, short-tempered barn general. Orb co-owner Stuart Janney III knows McGaughey feels some pressure. "Before the Derby, he had no color in his face," he said.

Stuart Janney III, the co-owner of even-money Preakness favorite Orb, arrived at Pimlico Race Course on Thursday morning to watch the colt once again have an easy trip around the track and then go through his morning routine. Janney, the chairman of the Bessemer Trust, traveled earlier in the week and came back to Baltimore from New York, where the company is headquartered, last night. He said he's pleased with how Orb has progressed after winning the Kentucky Derby, and has warm memories of spending mornings during Preakness week at the track 20 minutes from his Butler home.

The Kentucky Derby winner and oddsmakers' favorite for the Preakness Stakes isn't exactly a Maryland horse, but he's close - Orb is partially owned by a Baltimore County businessman, and his sire spent some time in Harford County. Attendance at Saturday's races might or might not set an all-time record, but it's bound to be close - top-flight music acts, it seems, are a bigger draw than BYOB debauchery. The weather may not be perfect, but it will be close - the latest forecast is for a high of 72 but with a slight chance of showers.

Horses? What horses? From the infield, the running of the Preakness Stakes is merely a side note - an excuse for tens of thousands to flood Pimlico and throw down all day. "I could probably name two horses a year, probably just the favorites," said Paul Sylvester, a 24-year-old engineer who went the past three years. "Most of the time you go, you're not really sure the race is on." More than 115,000 people came to last year's race, which made it the highest-attended sporting event in the state, officials said.

At first glance, nothing about the Woodlawn Vase -- the shiny silver trophy presented annually to the winner of the Preakness -- seems to embody the thrill of the race. Where in its delicate, ornate features are the galloping, straining horses? Where are the bulging muscles, flaring nostrils and glistening coats? Where are the hysterical crowds? At a glance, the trophy hints at little more than that triumphant Kodak moment in which the victor raises the cup for the crowds to cheer and the cameras to flash.

In a pair of low-slung green stables manned by security guards and watched by 24-hour surveillance cameras, a pack of brawny young horses will be monitored, poked and assessed down to the blood in their veins. The horses set to race in the 138th Preakness are to be kept under a microscope from their arrival at Pimlico Race Course until they burst from their starting gates Saturday — not only to avoid injury but also scandal. "It's become more sophisticated," said David Zipf, 72, the Maryland Racing Commission's longtime chief veterinarian for thoroughbred racing.

Much like the nickname “Shug,” Claude R. McGaughey III's plans after college were a mystery to him. McGaughey, who trains Kentucky Derby winner and Preakness favorite Orb, was a student at the University of Mississippi's business school as the Vietnam War was going on and wasn't enjoying it - he was "piddling around," as he called it. Drawing a high draft number in the 1969 draft, McGaughey decided to leave school. The only way his parents would allow him to, though, was if he got a job. McGaughey reached out to a friend who owned several horses at Keeneland in Lexington for work.