Preakness

Baltimore developer David S. Cordish revealed Wednesday that his company will bid to buy Laurel Park, Pimlico Race Course and the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of horse racing's Triple Crown, which are up for sale by their bankrupt owner. Cordish's interest - and the emergence of a possible second local bidder - comes amid growing anxiety surrounding the fate of the Preakness since last month's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by Magna Entertainment Corp., which owns the Maryland thoroughbred tracks.

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.

Come May, hot-air balloons will replace golf balls as the flying objects at Turf Valley Resort. This year - for the first time - Howard County will be included in the annual Preakness Balloon Fest. Promoters promise that the additional venue will offer an alternative to the traffic headaches associated with one of the event's other sites, Baltimore's Inner Harbor. "I've had people who have told me that they always wanted to go downtown but didn't want to fight the traffic," said Regina Ford, director of public relations for Turf Valley Resort in Ellicott City.

Learning to handle crises of mentally ill The fatal shooting of a suicidal young man suffering from a bipolar disorder is one example of the kind of tragedies that occur throughout the country when police officers are not given the tools to prepare them to deal with persons with serious mental illness who are in crisis ("Suicidal man fatally shot by police," Aug. 20). The National Alliance on Mental Illness has long advocated that more police officers be trained to be members of Crisis Intervention Teams who know how to respond properly to the mentally ill. CIT training gives police officers 40 hours of specialized instruction, including lessons about mental illnesses that teach officers to understand that mental illness is not a crime but a disease.

Free House, runner-up in the 1997 Preakness, is the early favorite at 8-5 odds over Real Quiet, at 2-1, for Saturday's 34th running of the Pimlico Special.The $500,000 Special is the same distance as the Preakness, 1 3/16 miles. Real Quiet won last year's Preakness by 2 1/4 lengths over Victory Gallop. Free House, unbeaten in two races this year, put in a final prep at Hollywood Park this weekend. He went five furlongs in 1 minute, 1 2/5 seconds.Real Quiet, who hasn't won since last year's Preakness, will be ridden by Gary Stevens.

Today's Preakness Celebration '99 events:* Phillips Preakness Trayfecta -- Waiters and waitresses from the harbor area compete in a tricky obstacle course. Noon at the Harborplace Amphitheatre. Free. Call 800-HARBOR-1.* The Preakness Pub -- Professional jockeys from Pimlico begin tending bar for charity from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. nightly through Friday at the Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel. Free admission; buffet and drink specials.For more details on events, call 410-837-3030.Pub Date: 05/10/99

With sequins and spangles, steel drums and jump ropes, Baltimore celebrated its glorious goofiness yesterday at the Preakness Parade.Let other parades enforce their rigid regulations, with flowers-only floats and lock-step lines of march. "This is Baltimore's parade," said Bill Gilmore, director of the city's Office of Promotions. "We're inclusive, not exclusive."A crowd that Gilmore estimated at 50,000 lined downtown streets for the 26th annual parade, a celebration that included just about everyone who wanted to participate.

The main body of Preakness horses arrived from Churchill Downs yesterday, including the top three finishers in the Kentucky Derby.First to unload from the stream of vans pouring into Pimlico Race Course was the D. Wayne Lukas contingent, including Derby winner Charismatic and third-place Cat Thief, both of whom settled in at Lukas' customary station at the far end of the stakes barn.Only Derby runner-up Menifee escaped the scrutiny of the media masses after taking up residence in Mary Eppler's barn on the backside of the track, the same place Victory Gallop lived last year before running second to Real Quiet in the Preakness.

How much longer Pimlico Race Course remains in its present state, an all-but-worn-out facility offering neither charm nor comfort, depends on the continuing patience of the public and how much it is willing to endure. Forget the attachment for something that has grown outmoded -- the place should be torn down and a modern replacement created.Despite the multitude in attendance for yesterday's Preakness, the ticket buyers put up with inconveniences they shouldn't be asked to accept when sports facilities are by design and appearance important to the crowd.

When hordes of uninvited guests park in their streets, driveways and yards today for the Preakness, the Mount Washington neighborhood will be braced for the invasion. In fact, the local lemonade stands show that in a weird way, residents almost welcome it."Plenty of people in Mount Washington say they hate it, but it's amusing at the end to watch," said Peter Garver, a past president of the Mount Washington Improvement Association. "From the porch, it's quite the scene."There's also a serious reason for putting up with the party.

Members of the Maryland Racing Commission voiced concern Tuesday for the coming bankruptcy auction of Magna Entertainment Corp.'s three in-state racing properties - Pimlico Race Course, Laurel Park and the Bowie Training Center - during their monthly meeting at Laurel Park. Last week Magna received permission from a bankruptcy judge to auction its Maryland tracks early next year with the provision that buyers promise to keep the Preakness in Maryland. The Maryland legislature this year passed a law granting the government rights to seize the Preakness under eminent domain in an effort to ensure that the middle leg of racing's Triple Crown remains in the state.

Our views Stick to your guns, Tom Chuckas. The head of the Maryland Jockey Club is getting second-guessed plenty after Saturday's subpar attendance at the Preakness, with most people blaming his new policy against BYOB alcohol in the infield. Attendance was the lowest in more than 25 years and was down by about a third from last year. But let's focus for a second on what's really important here. With the bankruptcy of the Preakness' parent company, Magna Entertainment Corp., Marylanders have been fretting for weeks about how to save Baltimore's stake in the second jewel of the Triple Crown.

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.

Stephanie Beattie called her upset win in the $100,000 William Donald Schaefer Stakes the highlight of her career, and it was the first of back-to-back victories for female trainers Saturday during Preakness Day at Pimlico Race Course. Beattie's No Advantage, at 12-1 odds, charged past two horses down the stretch to win the Grade III race by 2 3/4 lengths. No Advantage pressed pacesetters Real Merchant and Crimson Comic to the far turn before charging past them on the outside to gain control.

Ann Quasman, the host of a Baltimore talk-radio show aimed at women, isn't exactly the world's biggest horse racing fan. But she's bursting with excitement - and feminine pride - over Rachel Alexandra, the filly competing against history in today's Preakness Stakes. Quasman and many others predict the "girl horse" will defeat the boys. "Girl Power at the Preakness!" Quasman trumpeted yesterday on her Twitter account. "Whenever you have something that happens for women, no matter what shape they come in, that's unusual," the host at WCBM-AM (680)

When New Mexico trainer Chip Woolley was driving across the continent with his painful broken leg in a splint to enter Mine That Bird in the Kentucky Derby, it probably never occurred to him that horse racing might no longer be worth the effort. The same goes for the thousands of horsemen and horsewomen who get up in the dark every morning at racing facilities big and small to muck their stalls and dream the Triple Crown dream Woolley is living right now. Maybe it was just an oversight, but nobody informed them that this is an X Games world now and that most people would rather watch some kid jump off a ramp on a little bicycle or skateboard.

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.