Kentucky Derby

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.

It's (mostly) official: Govenor Charlie will run in the Preakness. Maybe. Trainer Bob Baffert told Pimlico officials Tuesday morning that he planned to run the colt, listed as “possible” since skipping the Kentucky Derby. But later in the afternoon he tweeted that the colt wouldn't be confirmed for a Preakness run until he boarded a plane from Louisville on Wednesday. The addition of the Baffert trainee would bring the field to nine and the number of new challengers for Orb to three.

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.

Doug O'Neill is back in Baltimore, this year to spoil a Triple Crown instead of take the next step toward winning one. A year after bringing I'll Have Another to Baltimore just two days after winning the Kentucky Derby, then frantically absorbing as much of Baltimore as he and his crew could before winning the race, the Southern California trainer arrived Sunday to join this year's entry, Goldencents. The mood around the same Barn D stalls he occupied last year was more workmanlike Monday, even after O'Neill watched the disappointing 17th-place Derby finisher roar down the Pimlico stretch under jockey Kevin Krigger.

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.

An eighth Preakness starter has been named, and he will bring jockey Rosie Napravnik back to the state where her career began to ride for the first time in its premier race. Mylute, fifth at the Kentucky Derby, will run in the 138 th Preakness on Saturday. Trainer Tom Amoss informed Maryland Jockey Club officials of his decision after the colt went to the track Saturday morning. Napravnik is a blossoming star on the national stage, having appeared on “60 Minutes” and in The New York Times Magazine in the wake of signing an endorsement deal with Snickers.

As Orb charged to the wire at Churchill Downs last weekend, he established his clear superiority to the other 18 thoroughbreds on horse racing's biggest stage, the Kentucky Derby. But compared to Derby champions of the past, Orb's time is less impressive - his 2:02.89 run doesn't rank among the top 10 in the race's history. It is slower than the times of many winners from the 1950s and 1960s, and well behind Secretariat's 1973 record. Blame the muddy track? Fair enough, but none of the past decade's Derby winners recorded a top 10 time either.

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.