Preakness Field

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.

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.

You knew the Preakness had gotten lucky when Kenny Smith put a sly smile on his face yesterday morning at Pimlico."I promise you," said Smith, the trainer of a Preakness horse named Silver Goblin, "they will know we were here."You knew the Preakness had gotten lucky when Hugh Robertson stood on the grass behind the stakes barn grazing his horse and shaking his head."It's kind of a bad break," said Robertson, the trainer of Polar Expedition, "getting a good horse in a year like this. A year when it's so hard to make a dent."

Hey, dude, have you heard they moved the Preakness to Hollywood Park?Or am I just California Dreamin'?It's the "Surf's Up!" Preakness, the year Pimlico decided to have the race and imported the horses, trainers and jockeys from La-La Land.Usually there is at least one hometown runner -- the Fighting Notions, I Am The Games or Harrimans -- from the local outfits.But this year there's none, unless Forty Something, the last-place finisher in the Derby who now-and-again is bedded down at Laurel, suddenly surfaces.

1 Big Drama Odds: 10-1 Jockey: John Velazquez 2 Mine That Bird Odds: 6-1 Jockey: Mike Smith 3 Musket Man Odds: 8-1 Jockey: Eibar Coa 4 Luv Gov Odds: 50-1 Jockey: Jamie Theriot 5 Friesan Fire Odds: 6-1 Jockey: Gabriel Saez 6 Terrain Odds: 30-1 Jockey: Jeremy Rose 7 Papa Clem Odds: 12-1 Jockey: Rafael Bejarano 8 General Quarters Odds: 20-1 Jockey: Julien Leparoux 9 Pioneer of the Nile Odds: 5-1 Jockey: Garrett Gomez...

A new horse might be joining the Preakness lineup.Trainer Nick Zito said yesterday that he is considering running Too Wild in Saturday's race.The 3-year-old son of Wild Again accompanied Zito-trained Strike the Gold to Pimlico from Belmont Park, but was originally expected to run in the Sir Barton Stakes on the Preakness card.However, Zito said it's possible that he'll try the Preakness."He's an improving colt and ran a strong race last time when he was second in the Cahill Road Stakes [to Koluctoo Jimmy Al]

If the Preakness represents another chance for four colts who ran behind Super Saver in the Kentucky Derby, it also provides first-time Triple Crown exposure to seven new horses. Even though only three "shooters" have won the Preakness in the past 20years (Rachel Alexandra last year, Bernardini in 2006 and Red Bullet in 2000), Caracortado heads a cast of hopeful newcomers at Pimlico Race Course. "He's trained well and he's run against some of the best horses around," said Mike Machowsky, trainer for the California-bred gelding, who opened at 10-1 odds.

Michael Phelps is the second-most influential athlete in the United States, according to data from surveys conducted by Nielsen and E-Poll Market Research and published by Forbes.com . Phelps ranks behind only Tim Tebow, a quarterback without a team, and ahead of sprinter Usain Bolt. While Tebow may be an example of marketing mattering more than on-field performance, Phelps and Bolt seem to be the product of Olympic greatness being paired with forward-thinking promotion. I caught up with Phelps' long-time agent, Peter Carlisle, last week to talk about his plans for jockey Rosie Napravnik, a new client he picked up on advice from people in Phelps' Baltimore orbit.

Itsmyluckyday will get another shot at Orb. The Eddie Plesa Jr.-trained colt will train toward a Preakness run, his connections told Pimlico officials Tuesday. They'd been mulling over whether or not to go to the gate for the 138th running of the second leg of the Triple Crown. Itsmyluckyday was the favorite in the Florida Derby, which Orb won to become an early Kentucky Derby favorite. Then, Itsmyluckyday became a popular betting choice to beat Orb in the Derby, partly because he had run well over a sloppy track.

The field for the Preakness next Saturday at Pimlico continued to swell with confirmation that the Bobby Frankel-trained High Limit will enter the fray. Frankel named Edgar Prado, the former Maryland riding star, to pilot High Limit, who finished last in the 20-horse Derby. The colt suffered cuts on both hind legs in the roughly run race. Initially, Frankel said High Limit would miss two weeks of training. After conferring with his veterinarian, he pointed the colt to the Preakness. Prado rode the Nick Zito-trained Sun King in the Derby.