Preakness

Kentucky Derby winner Orb is the even-money favorite for the Preakness, so the biggest topics leading up to the weekend have, obviously, been about his chances and how to beat him on Saturday. “The jockey was just here," Mylute jockey Rosie Napravnik, the fiery 25-year-old, shot back. "Ask him.” Though Napravnik eventually talked quite a bit about her thoughts on Orb and her possible strategies coming out of the gate -- Orb drew post-position No. 1, while Mylute is at No. 5 -- she has her own worries about Mylute.

Shug McGaughey, the trainer for Kentucky Derby winner Orb, attributes his calm demeanor since that race to maturity. Had he made it to the Preakness with a Triple Crown chance at a younger age, the 64-year-old insists, the scene would have been different. The kindly man in a sweater, face almost always softened in a sort of bemused wonderment, would be replaced by a high-strung, short-tempered barn general. Orb co-owner Stuart Janney III knows McGaughey feels some pressure. "Before the Derby, he had no color in his face," he said.

May. 18, Post Time: 10:45AM Entries and comments provided by the Maryland Jockey Club First - Purse $55,000, AOC $25,000-$20,000, 3 yo's & up, One And One Sixteenth Miles Post, Horse, Jockey, Trainer, Odds 1 Aussi Austin, Rosario, R.Rodriguez, 3-1 2 Bob's Gone Wild, Vargas, J.Lopez, 20-1 3 Jarrod's Commando, Karamanos, C.Garcia, 10-1 4 Warrensburg, Boyce, D.Barr, 20-1 5 Benny Or Local, Cruise, D.Kobiskie,...

The Kentucky Derby winner and oddsmakers' favorite for the Preakness Stakes isn't exactly a Maryland horse, but he's close - Orb is partially owned by a Baltimore County businessman, and his sire spent some time in Harford County. Attendance at Saturday's races might or might not set an all-time record, but it's bound to be close - top-flight music acts, it seems, are a bigger draw than BYOB debauchery. The weather may not be perfect, but it will be close - the latest forecast is for a high of 72 but with a slight chance of showers.

Harford County has had many big-time sports moments in its glorious history. Perhaps none were bigger, however, than the one that happened 30 years ago this week. That's when Harford County's own Deputed Testamony won the 1983 Preakness, bringing home the second of the three jewels of the Triple Crown of thoroughbred horse racing contested each year. The Triple Crown, for horse racing novices, is the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday in May, the Preakness down the road at Pimlico in Baltimore on the third Saturday in May and the Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., on Long Island three Saturdays later.

In a pair of low-slung green stables manned by security guards and watched by 24-hour surveillance cameras, a pack of brawny young horses will be monitored, poked and assessed down to the blood in their veins. The horses set to race in the 138th Preakness are to be kept under a microscope from their arrival at Pimlico Race Course until they burst from their starting gates Saturday — not only to avoid injury but also scandal. "It's become more sophisticated," said David Zipf, 72, the Maryland Racing Commission's longtime chief veterinarian for thoroughbred racing.

(NOTE: To download Liam's full cheat sheet for all of Saturday's races, click here . Following is his analysis on the Preakness Stakes.)   There are always lots of hard luck stories in the Kentucky Derby, and some of those hard luck horses come to the Preakness looking to set the record straight. Several of those guys are here to take on Orb. And a handful more Derby grumblers are skipping the Preakness to set their sights on the Belmont. However, recent history shows that the Derby winner tends to back up the Derby win and beat most if not all of those Derby finishers again.

When the owner of the winning horse in the 2013 Preakness Stakes mounts the podium to strains of "Maryland, My Maryland" to accept the Woodlawn Vase Saturday,  Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown will make the presentation. Gov. Martin O'Malley's office said Thursday that while the governor will make his customary visit to Pimlico Race Course on Preakness Day, he will duck out early to attend to a family obligation. Brown is an announced candidate for governor in 2014, when O'Malley can't run for re-election because of term limits, and can presumably use the exposure.

The top local entrant for Friday's 89th running of the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico took one wrong step on Thursday and had to be scratched. Walkwithapurpose, a Maryland-bred owned by Sagamore Farm in Glyndon, was expected to be one of the top contenders in the $500,000 Grade II race run at a mile and one-eighth for 3-year-old-fillies. Thursday afternoon, however, the Sagamore Farm filly had to drop out of the race after bruising her foot earlier in the day during her final gallop on the track at Pimlico in preparation for Friday's race.

The one-liners never stop when you're around Team O'Neill. Sometimes all that's missing is a brick wall, a stool and a microphone stand. Take the other day, for instance. Jockey Kevin Krigger has Goldencents out for his regular morning gallop in preparation for Saturday's Preakness. Trainer Doug O'Neill and his crew are watching it from the press box high atop Pimlico Race Course . As Krigger walks the Santa Anita Derby winner onto the track, the jockey looks up and waves.