Preakness 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.

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?

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.

Racing handicapping systems litter a horse track like torn betting tickets, and the relationship between the two is hardly casual. However, it is those very systems - suspect as some of them may be - and the willingness of folks to back them with a few bucks that drove multimillion-dollar wagering on yesterday's 130th Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course. Tony Steele of Burlington, N.C., was among a group of 16 friends as he mapped his strategy for yesterday's big race over a picnic table spread with sub sandwiches, ring bologna and chips inside the grandstand.

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.

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.

Another day, another Preakness horse. Yesterday, Galloping Grocer joined the field for the 130th Preakness on May 21 at Pimlico. That brings the horses planning to run to 10 and leaves the horses who might run at five. The field is limited to 14. Galloping Grocer is a New York-bred who won his first three starts and then battled Rockport Harbor gamely in the Remsen Stakes. Galloping Grocer finished second by a neck for the first of five straight setbacks. John Shirreffs, trainer of Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo, said he welcomes the competition.

The first of the Preakness colts rolled into Pimlico Race Course yesterday, and it didn't take long for Tim Ritchey to warm to the setting. With Afleet Alex grazing outside the stakes barn, the man with the unorthodox training methods and a passionate Pimlico past claimed "home-field advantage" for the 130th Preakness on May 21. "I've always done well here," Ritchey said after a nearly 13-hour trip by van from Louisville, Ky., delivered the third-place finisher...

Bellamy Road, who finished seventh as the favorite in the Kentucky Derby, has been sidelined with an injury to his left front leg. George Steinbrenner's colt will miss the Preakness and Belmont Stakes. Nick Zito, trainer of Bellamy Road, said the colt "popped a splint," meaning a tear in the ligament adhering the splint bones to the cannon bone. Zito said the injury probably started before the Kentucky Derby but was aggravated during the race. "There is no doubt you will see the real Bellamy Road again," the trainer was quoted as saying on The Blood-Horse Web site.

The Preakness could showcase the top three finishers in the Kentucky Derby, as well as the Derby's morning-line favorite. Kristin Mulhall, trainer of Imperialism, a closing third in the Derby, said the 16-race veteran will likely run in the Preakness after returning to the track at Hollywood Park and training aggressively. Imperialism would join Derby winner Smarty Jones, Derby runner-up Lion Heart and the Derby's morning-line favorite, The Cliff's Edge, who finished fifth after losing both of his front shoes, in the Preakness starting gate.