Kentucky

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.

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.

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

(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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

By now you've surely seen the video, below, of Tom Brady getting super, duper excited about Orb winning the Kentucky Derby. In it, he runs over to congratulate Ogden Phipps II, son of co-owner Ogden Mills "Dinny" Phipps. I'm not sure how they know each other. Maybe Brady just really revels in the good fortune of other fantastically rich people. Also, he apparently bet $4,700 on the colt and won $25,000 . (In some versions of the video you can see the other co-owner, Maryland resident Stuart Janney, roam through the shot in a tan rain coat and Orb hat, looking for all the world like maybe he'd mistakenly arrived in that place at that time.

Itsmyluckyday will get another shot at Orb. The Eddie Plesa Jr.-trained colt will train toward a Preakness run, his connections told Pimlico officials Tuesday. They'd been mulling over whether or not to go to the gate for the 138th running of the second leg of the Triple Crown. Itsmyluckyday was the favorite in the Florida Derby, which Orb won to become an early Kentucky Derby favorite. Then, Itsmyluckyday became a popular betting choice to beat Orb in the Derby, partly because he had run well over a sloppy track.

Kentucky center DeMarcus Cousins saw Rider's Brandon Penn pull up from well behind the 3-point line and stretched every last inch of his 6-foot-11 frame in an effort to get a hand on the ball. Guarding an opponent 22 feet from the basket isn't something Cousins does often. And he plowed into Penn as the ball clanged off the rim, but Cousins' effort was perhaps the surest sign that Kentucky coach John Calipari's message to his team that it needed to get serious about defense had come through loud and clear.

Five weeks from today, Maryland opens its 2012-13 men's basketball season against defending national champion Kentucky at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. It might be an opportunity for the Terps to exact some revenge for what transpired inside a packed gymnasium at a Texas high school late Thursday afternoon. Before a national television audience on ESPNU and after weeks of speculation that seemed to get more heated by the day, twin guards Aaron and Andrew Harrison announced that they would be headed to Lexington next year to play for the Wildcats rather than College Park to play for the Terps.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Mine That Bird spent the week tucked away in the Kentucky Derby Museum, not far from the track at Churchill Downs and the throngs wondering who will win the 139th run for the roses. The 2009 Derby winner seems to enjoy when fans stop in for a visit. A gelding who retired from racing in 2010, he appears at ease. And even as rail birds and once-a-year track goers alike fall for impressive looking favorites, Mine That Bird reminds them that their hunch is actually a guess.

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.