Preakness

Orb's path to the finish line in the second leg of the Triple Crown remains uncrowded. Normandy Invasion, the fourth-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby, dropped from contention for Saturday's 138th running of the Preakness on Sunday. Trainer Chad Brown and owner Rick Porter decided to stick with their original plan and point the horse toward prestigous races for 3-year-olds later in the summer. That leaves Orb, the colt co-owned by Baltimore County resident Stuart Janney III and Ogden Mills "Dinny" Pipps' stable, with only seven confirmed challengers at this point.

The Baltimore City Department of Transportation has posted road closures and traffic modifications for Saturday's 138th running of the Preakness Stakes and InfieldFest at Pimlico Race Course . DOT says Saturday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., the southbound Jones Falls Expressway exit ramp to eastbound Northern Parkway will be closed, and motorists will be redirected to the Cold Spring Lane exits. Cylburn Avenue from Northern Parkway to Greenspring Avenue will also be closed at that time, DOT said.

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.

Preakness had its share of glitterati in attendance this year. Kiss bassist Gene Simmons , and his wife - and "Gene Simmons Family Jewels" reality show co-star - Shannon Tweed hung out in the Jockey Club, while "House of Cards" star Kevin Spacey made the circuit in the Corporate Village, looking dapper in a cream blazer and fedora. Spacey's style was more on track than his handicapping. When caught at the betting window there, the actor was asked his pick in the next race (the No. 9)

You take your good news where you get it and here's mine: the Preakness sent Kegasus packing. You remember Kegasus. Sleaze-ball centaur with the biker haircut and beer gut? Budweiser-swilling centerpiece of the Infield Fest ad campaign the past two years? Gone. Got the proverbial pink-slip. You won't see him Saturday for the 138th Preakness Stakes. "He went back to the islands and I haven't seen him since," Maryland Jockey Club president Tom Chuckas joked the other day. Good thing.

(NOTE: To download Liam's full cheat sheet for all of Saturday's races, click here . Following is his analysis on the Preakness Stakes.)   There are always lots of hard luck stories in the Kentucky Derby, and some of those hard luck horses come to the Preakness looking to set the record straight. Several of those guys are here to take on Orb. And a handful more Derby grumblers are skipping the Preakness to set their sights on the Belmont. However, recent history shows that the Derby winner tends to back up the Derby win and beat most if not all of those Derby finishers again.

Nicole Stall boarded the first plane to Maryland she could catch when she heard of Benjamin Boniface's death last June. She was there to grieve the death of a boy she had known since his birth. But also to work. In the days after the 20-year-old's death in an early-morning car accident on the farm, she went to the barns where she had fallen in love with horses as a teenager. “I was completely out of it,” said William K. Boniface, known to most as Billy. “She just went out to the stallion barn, kept it running.

Some years, Maryland Jockey Club stakes coordinator Coley Blind has to turn horses away from the Preakness.  He and other members of the staff may look through the credentials of 20 horses, calculating their earnings -- the Preakness uses a fairly complicated three-tiered system -- to determine the 14-horse field. Not this year. As of Friday afternoon, connections for only seven horses had confirmed they planned to enter the race, and five others had been identified as strong possibilities.

LOUISVILLE, KY. - This year, Doug O'Neill and his assistants sat in the office at a barn in the far corner of the Churchill Downs backside. Few reporters dropped by, and O'Neill was not asked repeatedly to relive the running of the Kentucky Derby a day before. Last year's winning trainer, with I'll Have Another, O'Neill instead convened with his robust team to discuss plans for the 138th Preakness Stakes, scheduled for May 18 at Pimlico. Their Derby horse, Goldencents, finished 17th.

An eighth Preakness starter has been named, and he will bring jockey Rosie Napravnik back to the state where her career began to ride for the first time in its premier race. Mylute, fifth at the Kentucky Derby, will run in the 138 th Preakness on Saturday. Trainer Tom Amoss informed Maryland Jockey Club officials of his decision after the colt went to the track Saturday morning. Napravnik is a blossoming star on the national stage, having appeared on “60 Minutes” and in The New York Times Magazine in the wake of signing an endorsement deal with Snickers.

The Preakness Stakes post time -- the time the race is scheduled to begin -- is 6:20 p.m.  About 40 minutes before post, not long before horses and riders began heading to their gates, Pimlico officials said the tack's conditions were fast and firm. PHOTOS AND MORE Preakness infield party scene [Pictures] Preakness 2013 bikini contest [Pictures] Celebrities at Preakness 2013 [Pictures]  

A pair of racing aficionados from Saratoga Springs, N.Y., spent Saturday watching the early races at Pimlico, then they put their observations to use to score a massive payday in the Preakness. Joe Cavallo, 26, and Stephanie Rafferty, 21, hit the Pick 4 with Preakness winner Oxbow, Itsmyluckyday, Mylute, and Orb. One of their 72 50-cent Pick 4 bets netted $4,883.05, and Rafferty fought back tears as she saw the payout. “What am I going to do with $5,000?” Rafferty said. “It hasn't set in yet.” While the couple spends countless summer days at the track in Saratoga, Rafferty, who works in construction, said she only gambles on the big race days.

No Triple Crown winner this year, no first-female-jockey-to-win, no sunshine? No problem, said those who flocked to Pimlico Race Course on Saturday and waited out a midafternoon downpour to watch Oxbow leave behind Kentucky Derby winner Orb to capture the 138th Preakness Stakes. "This is always an exciting race," said Tom Meek, 59, of Phoenixville, Pa., smoking a postrace cigar. "As much as I love Orb and as much as I want a Triple Crown, this is great for Oxbow. That horse rocked.

Maryland Jockey Club President Tom Chuckas said Saturday that the Preakness brand “has changed dramatically” in the last few years, citing an attendance bump in the infield celebration and increased security all around the racetrack.   “The crowd in the infield is up, and the wagers are coming in,” Chuckas said. “All in all, it's pretty much what we expected, and we'll continue to fine-tune it.”   Speaking with reporters just after the seventh race Saturday at Pimlico Race Cource, Chuckas acknowledged that the Jockey Club has sought to find a balance between catering to old-school horse racing fans and drawing in new crowds who could become racing enthusiasts.

The Preakness forecast remains a tough call with varying chances of rain predicted. Weather is a major factor every year. From the May 12, 1940, edition of The Baltimore Sun: "Weather man had a tough time making up his mind. Sunshine and gayety until the first race. Everybody talking about first decent Preakness day in three years. ... Sun disappeared, cool wind blew, fancy parasols topping tables on Clubhouse lawn being took off like kites, after second race. ... Sun out again for third race.

Gary Stevens caught the water bottle tossed his way, took one swig and threw it back. “He don't want any?” a man asked, considering jockeys usually shower their horses, too. Stevens shook his head from his perch atop Oxbow, the wire-to-wire winner of the 138th Preakness. “Ain't even tired,” he said. Stevens, a 50-year-old grandfather who came out of a seven-year retirement at the beginning of the year, used a daring ride to clinch an anti-climatic second leg of the Triple Crown at Pimlico Race Course on Saturday.

Secretariat wins again. More than 39 years after the super horse won the Preakness on his way to a Triple Crown, the Maryland Racing Commission ruled Tuesday that he had set what was then a track and is still a race record, covering the mile-and-three-sixteenths in 1:53. Secretariat now holds the race record in all three Triple Crown (Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont) events. "It's nice to finally have this recognized, because the sport depends on accuracy," said Secretariat owner Penny Chenery, who helped pushed for the adjustment.

Stuart Janney III slipped into Churchill Downs virtually unnoticed Saturday afternoon, a few hours after landing in Lexington and driving to the track with his wife, two children and son-in-law. The northern Baltimore County resident, who had avoided the Kentucky Derby fanfare all week, soon found himself as the center of attention. Orb, owned by Janney and his cousin Ogden Mills “Dinny” Phipps, captured the 139th Kentucky Derby Saturday through the mud in 2:02.89 to win by 261/27 lengths.

Kiss rocker Gene Simmons and actress/model wife Shannon Tweed caused quite a stir at Preakness 2013 when the two stopped by the Christine A. Moore Millinery tent in the corporate village of Pimlico Race Track. Dozens of onlookers watched and snapped photos as the two combed through Moore's collection of colorful creations. After Tweed tried on a number of hats from the New York-based designer, she settled on the Thrill hat, a wide-brim sheer pink hat topped with a long feather. The hat cost a pretty penny: $900.

Among the concerns for jockeys at the Preakness today is the weather. Shortly before rain began to fall minutes ago, jockeys were watching the skies. Some know all too well that their horses don't respond to sloppy tracks, and they were holding out hope that the rain stayed away from Pimlico Race Cource. “I hope it stays like this [without rain] and I hope he likes the track.” said John Velazquez, who is riding Itsmyluckyday. “[Itsmyluckyday] is another horse that didn't run very good in the slop at Churchill Downs.” Itsmyluckyday finished 15th at The Kentucky Derby with Elvis Trujilloaboard.