Preakness

The last man to take a horse to Belmont with a chance to snag the elusive final gem in the Triple Crown has some advice for Doug O'Neill. Stay true to the horse. "I think trainers going around asking other people what they should do, looking for how to handle it, that's stupid," Rick Dutrow, trainer of Big Brown in 2008, said in a phone interview Sunday. "It's got to be about your horse. Whatever anybody else did doesn't matter. You know your horse. " O'Neill, trainer of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner I'll Have Another, has already disregarded common wisdom over the past three weeks.

Everyone in local TV says "sweeps" don't matter as much as they used to now that Baltimore has Nielsen's local people meters (contested as that data might be) Still, everyone who does well in the Nielsen audience survey wants the world to know. And why not? All metrics are up for grabs these days, and everyone in the media wants the ones that show any successs celebrated. WJZ (Channel 13) had another month of big Nielsen success in local news. It won every head-to-head weekday news time period with the most important audience of adults 25 to 54 years of age. Dan Joerres, general manager of WBAL, described adults 25 to 54 as "the key demographic that most advertisers use when considering where to advertise.

Deputed Testamony is 32-years-old. His dark brown coat is shaggy, and his biggest excitement is going into his paddock at Bonita Farm for three or four hours of grazing each day. He is a pensioner, an icon. The oldest living winner of a Triple Crown race. But when Billy Boniface looks at the horse in his paddock, he sees the striking colt that was born and trained at the family farm and raced to victory in the 1983 Preakness - the last horse bred or trained in Maryland to do so. "Oh my gosh, I still get goose bumps when I look at him and remember that day," said Boniface, who was 18 then and had just taken over the breeding operation at the farm.

Graham Motion can't help but hear snippets of news coming from Elmont, N.Y., where I'll Have Another is preparing for a shot at the first Triple Crown in 34 years. "It's great for the sport," the Fair Hill-based trainer said. "But for us, it's tough, too. The length that he won by at Preakness, we lost by that much last year. " Motion can take some solace in knowing the colt that gave him such a gallant run, Animal Kingdom, is finally headed back toward the race track.

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.

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.

Last year, 8.8 million viewers saw NBC's coverage of the Preakness. That's the kind of big-tent mass audience that makes the race one of Baltimore's showcase events. And that doesn't count the hundreds of thousands who will watch pre- and post-race coverage on the NBC Sports Network cable channel. But how Baltimore is seen by all those eyeballs largely depends on how NBC Sports chooses to cover the race and related events starting Saturday at 2:30 p.m on NBC Sports Network. NBC's network coverage of the race starts at 4:30 p.m. and runs until 6:30 p.m., with a closing half hour from 6:30 to 7 on NBC Sports Network.

I'll Have Another's path to the Triple Crown will be crowded. His competition at the Preakness, the second leg, could include the five horses who followed him across the line at the Kentucky Derby. That hasn't happened since 1958. In fact, the last time even the top five Derby finishers all raced in Baltimore was 1992. Bodemeister, the pacesetter and runner-up last Saturday, remains undecided. Trainer Bob Baffert - a five-time winner of the Preakness - is in California and does not plan to visit Bodemeister or Derby sixth-place finisher Liason until the weekend.

At first glance, Pimlico Race Course 's infield didn't look quite as trash-filled as Yolanda Wade is used to seeing it the Sunday morning after the Preakness, despite record crowds this year. It was an illusion. With more tents than in previous years, there was more room for the detritus of 121,300 fans to hide, turning the annual clean-up into a kind of warped treasure hunt. The tents "camouflaged the trash," said Wade, a fill-in supervisor for Pritchard Sports & Entertainment who works at Pimlico and the Laurel Park racetrack year-round.

Two days after Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another's thrilling win over Bodemeister under sunny skies and in front of a packed house, Maryland Jockey Club president Tom Chuckas pronounced the 137th running of the Preakness a rousing success. "I couldn't be happier," he said Monday. "From the standpoint of attendance, we had 121,000. We wagered about $80 million. The best part of this is we had very few problems. ... I received more compliments today and yesterday from the public, many e-mails, many phone calls.

Baltimore Baby! I was so proud how the Maryland Jockey Club had fixed up Pimlico for the Preakness. Every building, every railing and sign - all were freshly painted with magnificent yellow flowers everywhere! Baltimore is first class! Jim Holechek, Baltimore

Here's a look at what some media outlets are saying about I'll Have Another and his shot at the first Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978. * Dick Jerardi of the Philadelphia Daily News says the speed numbers of Union Rags, who expected to contend in the Kentucky Derby as the second favorite, aren't enough to match up with I'll Have Another in the Belmont : When I'll Have Another had to run faster than he ever had to...

Two days after Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another's thrilling win over Bodemeister under sunny skies and in front of a packed house, Maryland Jockey Club president Tom Chuckas pronounced the 137th running of the Preakness a rousing success. "I couldn't be happier," he said Monday. "From the standpoint of attendance, we had 121,000. We wagered about $80 million. The best part of this is we had very few problems. ... I received more compliments today and yesterday from the public, many e-mails, many phone calls.

I'll Have Another, fresh off winning the second leg of the Triple Crown, nipped at anyone who came by Sunday morning. He was more playful than ornery. Someone told trainer Doug O'Neill that the colt's eyelids looked heavy.  "He's always got that look," O'Neill shot back. It's true. I'll Have Another appeared only mildly bothered yesterday after running a mile and three-sixteenths in under two minutes and being herded into a crowded winner's circle. After his connections partied late into the night outside of his barn - except for O'Neill, who went to his hotel room with his wife and kids and ordered room service - I'll Have Another was spry at dawn.

At first glance, Pimlico Race Course 's infield didn't look quite as trash-filled as Yolanda Wade is used to seeing it the Sunday morning after the Preakness, despite record crowds this year. It was an illusion. With more tents than in previous years, there was more room for the detritus of 121,300 fans to hide, turning the annual clean-up into a kind of warped treasure hunt. The tents "camouflaged the trash," said Wade, a fill-in supervisor for Pritchard Sports & Entertainment who works at Pimlico and the Laurel Park racetrack year-round.

The last man to take a horse to Belmont with a chance to snag the elusive final gem in the Triple Crown has some advice for Doug O'Neill. Stay true to the horse. "I think trainers going around asking other people what they should do, looking for how to handle it, that's stupid," Rick Dutrow, trainer of Big Brown in 2008, said in a phone interview Sunday. "It's got to be about your horse. Whatever anybody else did doesn't matter. You know your horse. " O'Neill, trainer of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner I'll Have Another, has already disregarded common wisdom over the past three weeks.

Sam Grossman's fifth year as official bugler for the Preakness is one he'll never forget. Neither will his new fiancee, Valerie Moore, to whom he proposed between bugling duties for the fifth and the sixth races on Saturday. Even though the Long Island, N.Y., resident has been the bugler at his state's three racetracks — Belmont, Aqueduct and Saratoga — 250 days a year for the past 20 years, he had a big reason for popping the question the one day each year he musically introduces races at Pimlico.

Paige Tanner of Lancaster, Pa. reveled in the infield Saturday celebrating her first Preakness -- and her last few months as a single woman. The 24-year-old, whose wedding is set for July, reunited with her girlfriends from Elizabethtown College for a bachelorette party at Pimlico.  Her bridal tiara and garter drew lots of attention from the infield crowds, Tanner said. "I've had two or three people take the garter off with their teeth," said Tanner, whose friends were all dressed in pink.

With the grandstands still filling up before noon, Rose Kramer of Wilmington, Del. said she loved people-watching as the day progresses. She's been coming to Maryland for the race for the past few years. She donned a fuzzy pink "Supergirl" hat with sequins, which she bought on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, New York. "I try not to go traditional," Kramer said. "I don't like traditional. I like craziness. " Tricia Brissett and John Santos of Baltimore City brought their 1-year-old daughter, Valentiana, who wore a polka-dotted hat with a big flower.

For $3 a person, you can use the bathroom of Carol Hines' home on Winner St, across from Pimlico race course.  Hines decided to give entrepreneurship a try for the first time this year, one of many enterprises that pop up on Preakness day in the Park Heights and Pimlico neighborhoods.  Besides offering her restroom for Preakness attendees, Hines cooked up some of her best dishes, including jerk chicken, curry chicken and barbecue ribs. ...