Preakness Day

ONE RIDES A HORSE TO THE FINISH LINE IN FRONT OF A CROWD of cheering fans, and another is aboard when the only spectators are the early-morning denizens of the racetrack. *One is in charge of getting the thoroughbreds out of the starting gate, and another quite literally helps get them started, matching up sires and mares. *One sits in a corporate office, running the place, and another stands guard at a gate late into the night. *Different people, different jobs, yet all the same in one important way -- their lives are entwined with horse racing.

It used to be that the arrival of mint in the Maryland spring brought julep season, which was reinforced by the Maryland Hunt Cup and picked up steam with the running of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. And with the big race today at Pimlico, I wonder how many folks will be holding a chilled silver cup from Stieff or Kirk, loaded with rye or bourbon, as the horses barrel around the clubhouse turn. This is a drink that seems to have a lot of adherents, but I wonder how many folks who say they enjoy juleps actually drink or bother to make them.

On almost any other racing day, Pimlico Race Course is a comfortable, quiet spot to watch the horses. No hassle, no lines, small crowds and good people. But on Preakness Saturday each year, more than 100,000 people make the trek up Northern Parkway, and cultures clash in a tornado of celebration and sin. It begins well before sunrise, and doesn't truly end until the last debutante has climbed into her Mercedes, and the last piece of trash has been scooped from the infield grass the next day. It may be one of the last places in America where drunks and degenerate gamblers can comfortably rub shoulders with politicians and philanthropists, and where the hard work of countless dedicated people provides a backdrop for college kids to pass out in public.

Horse racing Brother Derek, who finished fourth with odds of 56-1 in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, established himself as a contender for next year's Triple Crown with a one-length victory over Your Tent Or Mine in yesterday's $407,250 Hollywood Futurity at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, Calif. The son of Benchmark ran 1 1/16 miles in 1 minute, 42.02 seconds to become the fifth California-bred winner of the Grade I Futurity. He established himself as a horse to watch leading to the 2006 Kentucky Derby, a race six Futurity champs have won, including Giacomo in 2005.

Surveying the debris littering the Pimlico infield the day after the 130th running of the Preakness, one could conclude that many a racegoer left Baltimore's biggest party drunk, naked, shoeless and happy (or perhaps, regretful). And, possibly, it was all caught on film. The evidence: beer cans and plastic bottles as far as the eye could see; underwear; articles of clothing, including socks and shoes; and boxes from disposable cameras. And then there was the stench. The midmorning sun warmed the trash yesterday, intensifying a putrid aroma of day-old beer mixed with even more distasteful smells.

Jade Fertich day-tripped down to Baltimore yesterday not because he was worried about the end of Pimlico; he feared the end of the world. "Lots of sin coming in," the Mechanicsburg, Pa., resident advised, surveying the beer-burdened Preakness Day crowd entering the race course. "Drunkards shall not inherit the kingdom of God." Despite sunny skies, the start of the day did have a certain cataclysmic feel. Medics pocketed fistfuls of surgical gloves. A policeman stood on a median with his hands in his pockets, as if he had already realized the futility of directing traffic.

Tomorrow's Preakness Stakes may be an internationally known horse race, but at Howard County's struggling Columbia Horse Center, this year's event is more significant than usual. Two months into a tense struggle with a deadly equine virus, which has killed five horses with almost no warning and made five more ill, employees of the horse center and their supporters are fighting back as best they can - with a Preakness Day celebration they hope will boost morale. "This place is a community for so many kids.

The Federico Tesio Stakes traditionally has been a springboard for talented local runners aiming for a chance to enter the Preakness. Since the $150,000 stakes for 3-year-olds began 24 years ago, 13 Tesio champions - and three others who finished in the money - have advanced to the middle jewel of the Triple Crown, including 1983 Preakness winner Deputed Testamony and two notable Preakness runners-up, Oliver's Twist (1995) and Magic Weisner (2002). Today, when Pimlico Race Course offers five six-figure stakes on the first weekend card of the new meeting, Malibu Moonshine moves onto the same proving ground.

What 129th Preakness Stakes, second leg of horse racing's Triple Crown Where Pimlico Race Course When Today, post time 6:15 p.m. Distance 1 3/16 miles Purse$1 million Gates open 8 a.m. First race 10:30 a.m. Weather forecast: Partly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid-80s. Southwest winds 10 to 15 mph. Preakness Day admission: Clubhouse: $18 Grandstand: $15 Infield: $42 Seating capacity: Main grandstand: 5,691 Old grandstand: 5,926 Clubhouse: 1,269 Sports Palace: 160 Dining 1,806 Turfside Terrace: 891 Terrace box seats: 3,936 Standing room (est.

Nick Zito had experienced every stroke of bad luck that can beset a horse in a race - stumbles, poor positioning, traffic problems, bumps, inclement weather. Until the Kentucky Derby. That's when The Cliff's Edge, the Derby's morning-line favorite, lost his front shoes and came home fifth after running next-to-last in the 18-horse field early in the race. "I've never had that happen," Zito said of the shoe incident after his two Preakness horses, The Cliff's Edge and Sir Shackleton, galloped over the Pimlico track yesterday morning.