Pimlico

On January 22, 2007, FRANCES TAYLOR loving wife of Canute Taylor. She is also survived by son, Kenroy and Oliver Taylor; sisters, Kathleen Parkinson, brothers, Ferdinal, Claudious, Leopold, Aldolphus and Keith Richards, two grandchildren and a host of nieces, nephews other relatives and friends. Friends may call the family owned MARCH FUNERAL HOME WEST, 4300 Wabash Avenue on Friday after 9 A.M. Family will receive friends on Saturday at First St. Stephens Baptist Church, 4663 Pimlico Road at 10:30 A.M., followed by funeral service at 11 A.M.

Two horses whose connections had indicated to Pimlico officials they would run in the Preakness are now saying something else, but a Kentucky Derby runner has moved from a possible to a definite. Teuflesberg, who faded to 17th in the Derby on Saturday after challenging for the lead, is headed to Pimlico, trainer and co-owner Jamie Sanders said yesterday. "We think Pimlico is more suitable to his style," Sanders said. Lexington Stakes winner Slew's Tizzy has been dropped from consideration, according to trainer Greg Fox, instead opting for the Lone Star Derby.

Maryland lawmakers gave final approval last night to a referendum on slot machine gambling, sending to voters an issue that has bitterly divided politicians in Annapolis for years. On a frenzied day of legislating three weeks into a tumultuous special session called by Gov. Martin O'Malley to close the state's projected $1.7 billion budget gap, the Senate approved the referendum as it juggled measures related to taxes, health care and the environment. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller said after the vote that the only way the General Assembly could move forward with slots is through a referendum - and he faulted Republicans for "not participating" in the legislation.

Bad winter weather that caused Laurel Park to cancel four of its scheduled 75 race days during its winter meet contributed to disappointing meet-ending numbers released yesterday by Magna Entertainment Corp. "We saw it coming as the meet progressed," said Lou Raffetto, president and chief operating officer of the Maryland Jockey Club, as he watched a race during Pimlico Race Course's opening yesterday. "The weather was pretty brutal ... during February, and March and we had to cancel closing day."

Joel R. Kruh, a Baltimore attorney who enjoyed playing sports, died Tuesday of an apparent heart attack while driving on the Baltimore Beltway. The longtime Owings Mills resident, who was pronounced dead at St. Agnes Hospital, was 61. Mr. Kruh was born in the Bronx, N.Y., and was 6 years old when he moved with his family to Crawford Avenue in Northwest Baltimore. He was a 1964 graduate of City College, where he was a track star, family members said. While attending law school at the University of Baltimore, where he earned his law degree in 1975, Mr. Kruh drove a taxi, taught driving and was an insurance adjustor.

On June 9, 2007, PAUL HOOD Sr., loving husband of Elenora Hood. He is also survived by his children, Paulette Hood and Paul Hood, Jr., eight grandchildren, a host of great-grandchildren, other relatives and friends. Friends may call at the family owned MARCH FUNERAL HOME WEST INC., 4300 Wabash Avenue on Thursday after 9 A.M. Family will receive friends on Friday at St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 4403 Pimlico Road at 11 A.M., followed by funeral service at 11:30 A.M. Interment King Memorial Park.

Wolfgang Rotenberg, a retired certified public accountant and attorney, died Sunday from stroke complications at Sinai Hospital. The Pikesville resident was 76. Mr. Rotenberg was born in Jauer, Germany, and as an 8-year-old fled Nazi persecution with his family. They settled in Shanghai, China. He completed high school in China, and moved to Baltimore's Pimlico neighborhood with his family in 1948. While working, he studied at night at the Johns Hopkins University's old evening school, McCoy College, and in 1955 earned a degree in accounting.

Dorothy Johns winced as she watched her elderly horse, Foreo, squirm away from handlers leading her into a makeshift stable at Pimlico Race Course. "Poor thing, she's all worked up from the ride up here," said Johns, watching along with a handful of Baltimore arabbers who gathered beside the temporary stable to welcome their horses and ponies back to the city. Last week, city officials condemned the arabbers' decaying stable in the 1900 block of Retreat St., noting structural problems, filth and trash that blocked exits.

Drug tests conducted on stable hands at Pimlico Race Course have revealed rampant use of illegal drugs by workers entrusted with the care of thoroughbreds at one of the nation's best-known racetracks.Maryland Racing Commission inspectors, backed by Baltimore police officers, swept into Pimlico on Monday and tested 74 stable employees for illegal drug use. Thirty tested positive -- ranging from marijuana to cocaine -- and were immediately ordered off the grounds.The large proportion of positive tests did not surprise John Franzone, racing commission chairman.

Secretariat's run for the black-eyed Susans may finally be headed for the record books, 26 years after his Triple Crown win.The horse, considered by some the greatest to ever race, set records in the 1973 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes. In between, he won the Preakness. But Pimlico Race Course's official timer -- a device whose accuracy had been publicly criticized for years -- came in with an impossibly slow time of 1 minute, 55 seconds.Three men in the press box with stopwatches all clocked the winning time at 1: 53 2/5, which would have been a record for the race, one that has subsequently been beaten.

Nowhere in sight coming around the turn for home, Vineyard Haven, the youngest horse in the Grade I, $300,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash, found space along the rail and charged for the wire under the urging of jockey Alan Garcia. Coming down the sloppy front straight, the 3-year-old passed Fleet Valid and then nosed ahead of Laurel Park-based Ravalo for a half-length victory. "Midway round that turn, I didn't think we had any horse left," said Vineyard Haven's assistant trainer, Rick Mettee, who was handling the Godolphin Racing-owned horse for trainer Saeed bin Suroor.

On August 15, 2009 CHARLES FIELDS beloved husband of Joyce E. Fields. Friends may visit the family owned MARCH FUNERAL HOME WEST, INC., 4300 Wabash Avenue on Friday after 8:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. thereafter Mr. Fields will lie in state at St. Stephen's Baptist Church, 4663 Pimlico Road where the family will receive friends from 5 until 8 p.m. The family will also receive friends on Saturday at Great Dalton Baptist Church, 4302 Garrison Boulevard at 10...

College basketball Report: Memphis responding to alleged NCAA violations The University of Memphis is responding to an NCAA notice of allegations accusing the men's basketball program of major violations during the 2007-08 season under John Calipari, a newspaper reported Wednesday. The allegations include "knowing fraudulence or misconduct" on an SAT exam by a player on that season's team, which finished runner-up in the NCAA tournament, The Commercial Appeal reported on its Web site.

On the morning after the Preakness Stakes, Pimlico Race Course typically is home to a long-standing ritual: a huge cleanup effort to pick up thousands of empty beer cans, food waste and discarded clothing left behind by drunken infield revelers. But not this year. Thanks to the new ban on bring-your-own alcohol, this year's Preakness may be remembered - at least by the people who work the event - as the first in memory where they didn't have a foul stew of booze and other detritus to sweep away the day after the festivities.

As he watched the Preakness on Saturday, Joe Kelly summoned the racing spirits that move on both four legs and two. Whirlaway, Citation and Secretariat. Arcaro, Hartack and Shoemaker. Horses with hurricane strength. Riders who harnessed their power. At 91, Kelly has seen them all at Pimlico Race Course. "The ghosts are everywhere," he said. One of them, he fears, might soon be the track itself. The fate of both Pimlico and Laurel Park is in question because their owner, Magna Entertainment Corp.

Devon Ford, 13, counts on the Preakness every year to earn a little extra cash toting people's coolers in a shopping cart from their cars to the gates of Pimlico Race Course. But this year business wasn't so good. He and three friends were barely making any money. Since Pimlico banned people from bringing their own beer and liquor, very few people used coolers. Those who did brought smaller, lighter coolers filled with food instead of heavy bottles and cans. "It used to be packed with people, but there aren't that many people this year," said Carter, who lives a few blocks from Pimlico.

Preakness transit service Light rail service * Take Light Rail to the Cold Spring Lane stop. * Take the connecting shuttle bus to the track. Shuttle bus service ends at 2 p.m. * Return service begins at approximately 6:15 p.m. and operates until 7:30 p.m. * $3.50 day pass required Metro subway service * Take Metro Subway to the Rogers Avenue Station. * Take the connecting shuttle bus to the track. Shuttle bus service ends at 2 p.m. * Return shuttle bus service to Rogers Avenue Station begins at approximately 6:15 p.m. and operates until 7:30 p.m. * $3.50 day pass required Local bus service * Nos. 27, 91, 44 lines, plus No. 54 via Park Heights Avenue all stop near the track.

Mama Nikki was hollering from somewhere back in the kitchen, her kitchen, at Pimlico Race Course. "I don't have a lot of food out yet!" she barked, less as an apology than an explanation. The smell of fried goodness said otherwise. So did the row of metal pans glistening with golden-brown salmon cakes, fried chicken, liver and onions, collards and corn. Her name is Goldie Morris, but for decades she's been known around Pimlico simply as Mama Nikki. Since 1969, she's been whipping up filling meals for trainers, track employees, media types and jockeys.

For about two minutes late Saturday afternoon, the fastest 3-year-old horses on the planet will run on the 1 3/16 -mile dirt track at Pimlico Race Course in the Preakness Stakes. This is the middle jewel in horse racing's Triple Crown, and no Baltimore sporting event is bigger, livelier or more steeped in history and convention. From the Woodlawn Cup to the blanket of black-eyed Susans that will grace the neck of the winner, the raucous infield crowd and the well-dressed ladies in the grandstand and corporate tents, it's hard to imagine Baltimore's third Saturday in May without the familiar scene at Old Hilltop.

Imagine if they tore down the venerable Pimlico Race Course, home of the Preakness Stakes and 139 years of horse racing tradition in Northwest Baltimore. Park Heights shopkeeper Marcus Melvin has pondered the possibility. He'd support a shopping complex as a way to bring needed jobs to the "devastated" neighborhood near the track. No thanks, say Larry and Vicki Kloze, who live a block north of Pimlico. A shopping mall would probably fail, they argue. Far better would be a sedate office park with lots of green space.