Preakness Stakes

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.

On the third Saturday in May, generations of Baltimoreans marched onto the infield at Pimlico Race Course with their coolers in tow, an image that helped define the Preakness Stakes. No longer. The Maryland Jockey Club has unveiled enhanced security plans for the 138th Preakness Stakes in the wake of recent deadly bombings at the Boston Marathon. And coolers are among the casualties. Fans will be subject to electronic wand searches at all gates for the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes on May 17 and the Preakness on May 18. They will not be allowed to carry backpacks or duffel bags into the races and only smaller, see-through-plastic containers will be permitted.

On the third Saturday in May, generations of Baltimoreans marched onto the infield at Pimlico Race Course with their coolers in tow, an image that helped define the Preakness Stakes. No longer. The Maryland Jockey Club has unveiled enhanced security plans for the 138th Preakness Stakes in the wake of recent deadly bombings at the Boston Marathon. And coolers are among the casualties. Fans will be subject to electronic wand searches at all gates for the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes on May 17 and the Preakness on May 18. They will not be allowed to carry backpacks or duffel bags into the races and only smaller, see-through-plastic containers will be permitted.

That the Orioles could be turned around and have a winning season in 2012 and then open the 2013 season with a victory possibly is reason to hope that other Maryland sporting traditions can be revived. Three cross country horse races that constitute what is informally known as Maryland's Triple Crown of steeplechase racing get their start this weekend and next in Harford County with the decades old traditions surrounding the Elkridge-Harford Point to Point and the My Lady's Manor races, to be followed by the Hunt Cup a few miles to the west in Baltimore County.

Alternative rock group Chevelle, Nashville country duo Florida-Georgia Line and Philadelphia-based cover band Kristen and the Noise will perform on the Jagermeister Stage at this year's Preakness InfieldFest on May 18, the Maryland Jockey Club announced today. The addition of two rock bands and a country act makes sense after the Club announced last month Top 40 staple Pitbull and rising hip-hop star(s) Macklemore & Ryan Lewis would headline InfieldFest. Kristen and the Noise, who will kick-off the Jagermeister Stage, are scheduled to play Claddagh Pub's Meet in the Street in Canton on Saturday.

Maryland, and specifically the Baltimore region, has a long and storied history as a major player in horse racing. Thoroughbred owners, trainers and the horses live and work in our valleys, and every year the Preakness Stakes brings tens of thousands of people to Charm City. As told in the Jan. 27 article "Next steps for MD. racing," the profitability of the sport has been in major decline over the last several decades. If the horse-racing industry is to be saved, it must learn from other sports and venues in order to reinvent itself as a 21st century form of entertainment.

Laurel Park Winter SprintFest nominations announced Nominations for the three races that highlight the Presidents Day holiday weekend at Laurel Park were released by the Maryland Jockey Club's racing office Friday. Winter SprintFest features two graded, seven-furlong contests - the $250,000 Barbara Fritchie Handicap (G2) for fillies and mares next Saturday and the $250,000 General George Handicap (G3) for 3-year-olds and up on Feb. 18. The card next Saturday also includes the $125,000 John B. Campbell Handicap at nine furlongs.

Volvo Ocean Race organizers wanted to come to Baltimore in May 2015 as part of their 'round-the-world competition but had one request: Could it share the spotlight with the Preakness Stakes or bump the Triple Crown horse race to another date? The city said thanks, but no way. So Tuesday, the only U.S. stopover of the Volvo went instead to Newport, R.I. "We were shocked," said Robert Housman, executive director of Ocean Racing USA, the Baltimore bidder. "It would be discouraging to work hard on something and lose, but clearly they moved the finish line.

Ore Pass broke sharply, sat off the dueling leaders, then went on the attack and charged by to win Saturday's feature at Laurel Park, the $125,000 Frank Whiteley Jr. Stakes for 3-year-olds. Julian Pimentel was at the reins of the horse trained by Mike Trombetta , who completed the seven-furlong distance in 1 minute, 24.78 seconds, a length and a half ahead of Alpha Mike Foxtrot, with Lunar Rock finishing a distant third. Ore Pass paid $5.80 as the betting favorite. "I was kind of glad Mike told me just to stay behind the two horses," Pimentel said.

A striding horse set atop an oval that includes the checkerboard pattern on the Maryland flag will serve as the logo for the 138th running of the Preakness Stakes. The Maryland Jockey Club unveiled the 2013 logo Friday. The Baltimore-based Leffler Agency handled the design for the 14th year in a row, this time under the auspices of its new creative branding division, brandNU Marketing. According to the a release from the MJC, which owns historic Pimlico Race Course, the logo draws clubhouse artwork derived from a nineteenth century painting of racing at the track.