Pimlico Special

It has been 55 years since a Maryland-bred thoroughbred was named North America's Horse of the Year.Local fans might have gotten a good look at one yesterday.It took five years for Cigar to get from his birthplace at Country Life Farm in Bel Air to Pimlico Race Course.But when he did, the horse that has now won five consecutive Grade I stakes, made it to the finish line in style.Cigar ran the fourth-fastest Pimlico Special in the race's 30-year history yesterday and did it in what looked like little more than a public workout.

Graham Peck, a 23-year-old from Baltimore, won the "Down the Stretch for SGK" Preakness 5K on Saturday morning at Pimlico Race Course , finishing in 17 minutes, 41 seconds. Jason Farber was second, 10 seconds back. Peck's father, Henry, finished 16th overall in 20:57 and his sister, Kaylyn, was the female runner-up. "It was a family affair. Running on the track was really fun, but it was wet, so it slowed us down," said Graham Peck, who ran track and cross country at Dulaney.

The field for the third running of the revived Pimlico Special divides almost too neatly into two groups of runners.There are three "speed" horses -- Jolie's Halo, Farma Way and Summer Squall.Then there is Silver Survivor, who runs in the middle of the pack, followed by three horses that come from distinctly off the pace -- Unbridled, Festin and Reputed Testamony.In order for the come-from-behind horses to have a good chance to wear down the front-runners, they need a fast pace.Chances are, they aren't going to get it.The riders of these horses are just too smart to fall into that trap.

A beautiful day at Pimlico will allow Black-Eyed Susan Day to go on with seemingly no problems and a fast track. All 13 races will take place between noon and 5:51 p.m., capped with the Pimlico Special, which has been run just one time since 2007. Unbeaten but inexperienced Mamma Kimbo will enter the 88th running of the $300,000 Black-Eyed Susan (G2) as the favorite, trained under Bob Baffert, who will also saddle Preakness favorite Bodemeister on Saturday. Trainer Todd Pletcher will saddle both Disposablepleasure and In Lingerie.

Don't be surprised if the Pimlico Special shares the same card next spring with the Preakness.We will announce the schedule when it all comes together."

Sonny Hine has committed Skip Away to the Pimlico Special. Now, if Gentlemen and Silver Charm can be enticed by a $1 million purse, Maryland may end up playing host to the year's greatest race."

Barring any unexpected setbacks, Best Pal is set to run in the $700,000 Pimlico Special on Saturday after a workout yesterday morning that allayed trainer Gary Jones' doubts about the horse's liking for the racing surface."

It's a short field, but a stellar one: Seven horses were pre-entered yesterday for the May 11 Pimlico Special.Those remaining eligible for the 1 3/16-mile race are Unbridled, Summer Squall, Jolie's Halo, Farma Way, Festin, Silver Survivor and Reputed Testamony.

Strike the Gold will defend his title in the Pimlico Special.After a winter break, during which he had a mild case of anemia, the horse is back to work and is up to breezing five-eighths of a mile."

LAUREL -- Pimlico Race Course management has reduced the value of the Pimlico Special from $1 million to $750,000 for the fourth running since its revival, on May 11.Part of the savings will go toward making up a $1.5 million bonus announced Wednesday for an American Racing Championship Series.The series, consisting of 10 major races for older horses at nine tracks, will start Feb. 9 with the Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park and ends with the Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park on Sept. 15. All of the races will be televised by ABC.Bonuses will be awarded to the four horses with the most points, based on a 10-7-5-3-1 system.

The Pimlico Special is returning to Preakness weekend. The Maryland Racing Commission approved the 2012 Pimlico Race Course racing days and spring stakes schedule at its regular meeting Tuesday at Laurel Park, including the return of the long-respected but recently missing Special. Previously a Grade I, $500,000 race - first won by War Admiral in 1937 and more recently by 2006 horse of the year Invasor - the Pimlico Special was cut from the Preakness weekend all but once since 2007 due to a lack of purse money.

Pimlico Race Course Ben's Cat races to repeat in $75K Mister Diz Stakes The Jim Stable's Ben's Cat carried Jeremy Rose to a repeat score in the $75,000 Mister Diz Stakes, Saturday's feature offering at Pimlico Race Course . Bred, owned and trained by the legendary King Leatherbury , Ben's Cat won for the ninth time in 12 lifetime starts. The son of Parker's Storm Cat has won four stakes since his debut as a 4-year-old last year, but this was his first added-money victory racing on the main track.

The unveiling of the spring schedule at a meeting of the Maryland Racing Commission on Tuesday came with good news and bad, as the state's horse racing industry continues to struggle for financial stability. More than $2.4 million will be up for grabs in 18 stakes races during the spring meet at Pimlico Race Course, but the Grade I Pimlico Special, which dates to War Admiral's 1937 victory and for years has been the second-most important race in Maryland after the Grade I Preakness, will not be among the scheduled events.

Subsidizing racing makes little sense I shook my head in disbelief as I read The Sun's article regarding the cancellation of the Pimlico Special and the reaction of the Maryland Jockey Club, which places the blame squarely on the absence of slots ("Pimlico Special halted, raising stakes on slots," Jan. 26). It seems obvious to me that the main reason behind the decreasing purse sizes for races such as this one is the inability of the industry to draw a substantial crowd to this increasingly irrelevant spectator sport.

In a move that increases pressure for slots legislation this year, the Maryland Jockey Club announced yesterday that a storied Pimlico event first run 70 years ago will be canceled because of competition from states where expanded gambling subsidizes horse tracks. The cancellation of this year's Pimlico Special - a race that in 1938 pitted Seabiscuit against War Admiral at the height of thoroughbred racing's golden age - coincided with a day of testimony from horse racing officials in Annapolis about how their industry is suffering without slots revenue.

On Monday, Invasor became the 15th winner of the Pimlico Special to capture an Eclipse Award as Horse of the Year. Yesterday, the Maryland Jockey Club canceled this year's race. The Pimlico Special, a $500,000 Grade I race, second in importance in Maryland only to the Preakness, dates to 1937, when it was created by Alfred G. Vanderbilt as the first major stakes race in America and the first one by invitation only. The Maryland Jockey Club determined that the state's horsemen would be better served by distributing the purse money among other races because out-of-state horsemen generally win the Special.

Don't expect to see Horse of the Year Holy Bull in the Pimlico Special.Those are the sentiments of the colt's owner-trainer, Jimmy Croll, who said in Washington on Friday that he hasn't entirely ruled out the Maryland race, but added: "Truthfully, [the Special] is too close to the Met Mile, which is one of the major objectives I've planned for the horse. And the race is a little farther than I'd like to run him in at that time of year."The Pimlico Special, at 1 3/16 miles, is tentatively scheduled for May 13, a week before the Preakness.

The Pimlico Special appears to be shaping up as the race of the year.Trainers of the top seven finishers in Saturday's Oaklawn Handicap are planning to enter their horses in the May 11 race, Ann Palmer, a Matchmaker Racing Services official, said yesterday.Those horses finished in this order at Oaklawn: Festin, Primal, Jolie's Halo, Silver Survivor, Unbridled, De Roche and Farma Way.Summer Squall, winner of the 1990 Preakness, also is scheduled to run, setting up a rematch between the winners of last year's Kentucky Derby (Unbridled)

MARYLAND Authorities investigating crash Authorities said it could take days for investigators to determine how two police cruisers collided in Southwest Baltimore early yesterday, claiming the life of a veteran officer and injuring another. The accident killed Officer Anthony A. Byrd, 31, an 11-year veteran, and injured Officer Raymond E. Cook Jr., 36, who has been on the force 10 years. pg 1a Slogan part of branding effort Baltimore officials are set to announce next week a new slogan for Baltimore in its effort to sell itself to tourists and visitors.

A switch in jockeys, a year's maturity and an off track delivered Eddington to the winner's circle at Pimlico Race Course yesterday, just weeks after his connections wondered if he'd ever win big. The 4-year-old chestnut colt galloped through the rain and the muck to run away with the $500,000 Pimlico Special. After starting last in a seven-horse field, Eddington rumbled past pacesetting Presidentialaffair down the stretch for a 5 1/4 -length victory over 1 3/16 miles. "I've been frustrated," owner Peter Willmott said afterward.