Pimlico Race

Pimlico Race Course has a new logo. The second-oldest racetrack in the United States unveiled its logo Tuesday. The design features a cupola weather vane -- an iconic track feature -- and a 'Pimlico' script with 'Home of the Preakness' written below. "We wanted a fresh look before returning next month for the spring meet," Maryland Jockey Club president Tom Chuckas said in a news release. "The great Alfred Vanderbilt once said Pimlico 'is an accepted American institution, devoted to the best interests of a great sport, graced by time, respected for its honorable past.' Pimlico is steeped in tradition and we feel the new logo properly celebrates one of the most historic racetracks in the world.

The Maryland Jockey Club today unveiled the 2012 Preakness logo for the 137th Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown, to be run May 19 at Pimlico Race Course. The 2012 logo, in traditional Maryland colors of red, gold, and black, depicts the horse and jockey as repeating stylized graphics with curved elements that convey movement. The Leffler Agency of Baltimore and Tampa designed the official Preakness logo for the 13th straight year. "The challenge of making a national logo like the Preakness logo every year is the challenge of uniqueness," said Bob Leffler, agency president/owner.

Surrounded by clusters of trees and tall grasses, the community garden on Woodland Avenue provides Mary Waller with a serene, pastoral view from her wide front porch, less than half a mile from the Pimlico Race Course . But only a few of Waller's neighbors are left to enjoy it. Her side of the street is lined with rowhouses long abandoned and left to deteriorate, a lasting reminder of how her block in Northwest Baltimore has languished since...

There have been years when the scene in the Preakness infield has been too rowdy and years when it has been too tame, but 2011 might go down as the year when management struck the right balance at Pimlico Race Course. The food was plentiful, the music from the right century, and the beer and toilet lines were mercifully short for much of the day. For those who cared, there actually were horse races. It didn't hurt that the weather couldn't have been better if it had been ordered out of a catalog — sunny and about 80, with a gently caressing breeze.

Trainer Graham Motion not only has the favorite in the Preakness on Saturday at Pimlico Race Course, he has Shared Account, the odds-on favorite in the Grade III, $100,000 Gallorette Handicap for fillies and mares on the turf. Shared Account is owned by Sagamore Farm and had a stunning (46-1 odds) victory in the in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf last Novemeber. Motion is concerned that Shared Account, the 4-5 morning line favorite, has been assigned to carry 125 pounds, a minimum of 10 pounds more than her seven rivals.

Animal Kingdom, the longshot Kentucky Derby winner, today was named the 2-1 favorite for Saturday's 136th Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course. Dialed In, who is eligible for a $5.5 million bonus if he wins the Preakness, is the 9-2 second choice. Animal Kingdom, who is based in Fair Hill Training Center where trainer Graham Motion has his operations, will arrive at Pimlico on race day. He'll start from the No. 11 spot, with Dialed In at No. 10. Today was a big day for arrivals at Pimlico, with Mucho Macho Man, third in the Derby, being the first to arrive this morning.

Kentucky Derby runner-up Nehro will not enter the Preakness Stakes on Saturday at Pimlico Race Course, owner Ahmed Zayat said this morning at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. With Nehro out, that moves Isn't He Perfect into the prospective starting field of 14. On Monday, Concealed Identity, a Maryland-bred horse, moved into the field when Ruler on Ice passed on the Preakness. The Preakness draw is Wednesday and it looks like there are 15 horses contending for the 14-horse field.

Preakness post time: About 6:19 p.m. Preakness Stakes date: May 21 Site: Pimlico Race Course, Baltimore Preakness on TV: Chs. 11, 4 (NBC) Preakness odds: 1. Astrology 15-1 2. Norman Asbjornson 30-1 3. King Congie 20-1 4. Flashpoint 20-1 5. Shackleford 12-1 6. Sway Away 15-1 7. Midnight Interlude 15-1 8. Dance City 12-1 9. Mucho Macho Man 6-1 10. Dialed In 9-2 11. Animal Kingdom 2-1 12. Isn't He Perfect 30-1 13. Concealed Identity 30-1 14. Mr. Commons 20-1 Tickets to Preakness: Infield, in advance $50, on race day, $60. Prices throughout the grandstand vary, and some require reservations, so call (410)

Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park lost a combined $20 million last year, according to new figures from the Maryland Jockey Club. Most of that loss came in the first four months of the year. State regulators Friday released unaudited results for that period, following a late Thursday release of audited financial information for May through December that showed a loss of just under $7 million for the two thoroughbred racing tracks. The tracks lost more than $14 million in 2009 and nearly $12 million in 2008, according to unaudited financial statements.

The Preakness it's not. No mobs of young people in the infield or fancily dressed women in colorful hats in the grandstand or even live horses running around Pimlico's dirt track. Still, hundreds of dedicated race fans showed up at the Northwest Baltimore track Saturday to watch and bet on simulcast broadcasts of horses running in Delaware, New Jersey and New York, as they waited for a horse with the unlikely name of Drosselmeyer to win the 142nd running of the Belmont Stakes, racing's third leg of the Triple Crown.