Preakness Field

Call it the curse of Spectacular Bid.In the 20 runnings of the Kentucky Derby since the great Maryland horse won, the wagering favorite has been beaten. That includes this year's Derby, which was won by the 31-1 long-shot Charismatic.Not so in Baltimore. Over the past 20 runnings of the Preakness Stakes, the bettors' choice has won one-third of the time. And the favorite has finished in the money 70 percent of the time.The reason has to do with important differences between the two races, and the fact that bettors apply lessons from the Derby to the Preakness, said John Gollehon, author of the recently published book Budget Gambling.

And then there were seven - and counting. The entry of Diabolical into the 131st Preakness expanded the field to seven yesterday. And trainers for Greeley's Legacy and Platinum Couple said they could decide to enter the race, too. "We're going to go ahead and enter him," said Diabolical's trainer, Steve Klesaris, who owns the 3-year-old in partnership with Puglisi Stables. "Diabolical is a talented colt. I don't believe anyone has seen the best of Diabolical yet." Diabolical, who will be ridden by Ramon Dominguez, has proved his worth against this year's top colts.

[UPDATE] Tom Chuckas, the president of the Maryland Jockey Club, said he "does not see the need to change" the way the Preakness field is selected. -------------- The path to the Kentucky Derby has changed. Since 1986, graded stakes earnings have been the key to any horse hoping to qualify for the field of 20 in Kentucky. But Churchill Downs, which owns and operates the race, has introduced a new method for ranking horses in an attempt to make the preliminary stages of the chase for the Triple Crown easier to understand.

Close the freeways and open the barns - most of the Preakness field should be in town today. Are they a little slow getting here? Maybe, but all you have to do is scan the start list to realize that we're not dealing with the fastest crop of 3-year-olds here. Tomorrow's big race should confirm Barbaro's brilliance on the track. But even before the gates open, a bigger statement has already been made: This year the horse racing circuit is dominated by chickens, not thoroughbreds. How else do we explain the field?

Rob Bailes has been around horses all his life. His father, Mert, saddled J.R.'s Horizon (ninth) in the 1990 Preakness, and his grandfather Bob was the farm manager and a trainer at Meadow Farm in Virginia and the first rider to get on Secretariat's back. Rob Bailes, who has unsung Mint Slewlep in Saturday's Preakness field, is already familiar with the Triple Crown series, having saddled Scrappy T in the 2005 Preakness and come away with a surprising second place behind Afleet Alex. "My dad pretty much taught me everything I know," said Bailes, 42. "I try not to give him credit for the bad things I do. He was a very good conditioner of racehorses, and probably the most important thing he taught me was you don't train every horse the same.

The question of who likely will set the pace Saturday in the 122nd Preakness has been answered: Cryp Too.Cryp who?He's a gelding by Cryptoclearance who has won three of six races at Aqueduct. Based at Boston's Suffolk Downs with trainer Allen Borosh, Cryp Too finished second May 3 in the one-mile Withers Stakes, setting speedy fractions of 22 and 44 seconds.The question of pace in the Preakness had been a concern for the connections of several entrants, especially Captain Bodgit. A quick early pace helps set up his late closing run."

Trainer Nick Zito, who tied a record for most starters in the Kentucky Derby, would equal the mark for most starters in the Preakness if his trio of High Fly, Noble Causeway and Sun King make the starting gate Saturday at Pimlico. Zito started five horses in the Derby 11 days ago, tying D. Wayne Lukas for most horses by a trainer in the first leg of the Triple Crown. Despite a disappointing outcome, Zito plans to wheel three back in the Preakness. High Fly, 10th in the Derby, breezed five furlongs in 50.20 seconds yesterday at Churchill Downs, earning the right to join stablemates Noble Causeway and Sun King, both of whom breezed Monday, on a flight today to Maryland.

At some point, tradition must cede to sensibility. A long and storied history cannot take precedence over an endangered and uncertain future, not when so much is on the line. While The Jockey Club has admirably convened a committee to study the health and safety of its racehorses, there's something the Maryland Jockey Club could push for immediately: It's past time the Triple Crown calendar was tweaked to move the Preakness Stakes, slated for Saturday at Pimlico, back at least one week.

Rachel Alexandra changed stalls at Churchill Downs in Louisville early Thursday morning, and the reverberations blew through the Preakness Stakes posthaste. No sooner had Stonestreet Stables purchased the precocious 3-year-old filly than new owner Jess Jackson was fielding questions about a possible run at the $1 million Preakness on May 16. Jackson was noncommittal after moving Rachel Alexandra into trainer Steve Asmussen's barn. The ambiguity left Chip Woolley, trainer for the Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, wondering whether he needed a jockey for the second leg of the Triple Crown.

Animal Kingdom, winner of the Kentucky Derby, took an early-morning walk around Barn 22 at Churchill Downs on Monday as he prepared to spend his last day of the spring in Louisville. "We are going to leave early, sometime around 5:30 or 6," assistant trainer Dave Rock said of the journey to the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland. "He is doing good and eating good, as always. " The van ride to Maryland was expected to take 11 to 12 hours. Animal Kingdom will prepare for the Preakness at Fair Hill and ship to Pimlico Race Course a day or two before the May21 race.