Run

The last man to take a horse to Belmont with a chance to snag the elusive final gem in the Triple Crown has some advice for Doug O'Neill. Stay true to the horse. "I think trainers going around asking other people what they should do, looking for how to handle it, that's stupid," Rick Dutrow, trainer of Big Brown in 2008, said in a phone interview Sunday. "It's got to be about your horse. Whatever anybody else did doesn't matter. You know your horse. " O'Neill, trainer of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner I'll Have Another, has already disregarded common wisdom over the past three weeks.

It's deja vu at Sparrows Point. The Baltimore County plant once again faces wholesale layoffs and a possible sale. The same story has played out every couple of years for the past decade at the steel plant, whose future remains in limbo. The revolving pattern of new owners and layoffs that began when longtime owner Bethlehem Steel declared bankruptcy in 2001 leaves some questioning how much more the Sparrows Point plant can take and remain viable. "How many lives does a mill have?"

Deputed Testamony is 32-years-old. His dark brown coat is shaggy, and his biggest excitement is going into his paddock at Bonita Farm for three or four hours of grazing each day. He is a pensioner, an icon. The oldest living winner of a Triple Crown race. But when Billy Boniface looks at the horse in his paddock, he sees the striking colt that was born and trained at the family farm and raced to victory in the 1983 Preakness - the last horse bred or trained in Maryland to do so. "Oh my gosh, I still get goose bumps when I look at him and remember that day," said Boniface, who was 18 then and had just taken over the breeding operation at the farm.

Maryland's upsets of No. 7 seed Lehigh in the NCAA tournament's first round and No. 2 seed Johns Hopkins in the quarterfinals are somewhat surprising considering that the Terps ended the regular season with a less-than-inspired 13-11 loss to Colgate. It was the second consecutive year that Maryland had dropped its regular-season finale to the Raiders, who used that victory to qualify for the tournament and bounce previously undefeated Massachusetts from the first round. After the most recent setback to Colgate, Terps coach John Tillman said he decided to adjust the team's usual practice routine.

Maryland Live! Casino at Arundel Mills will have its grand opening at 10 p.m. June 6, casino officials announced Thursday morning. The grand opening still requires approval by the Maryland Lottery, which will oversee a trial run to take place before June 6. The announcement comes as the state slots commission on Thursday considers a bid to open a casino in Rocky Gap, in Western Maryland, by Evitts Resort LLC. The commission also has yet...

Roberto Pagan-Franco didn't have a bank account for decades. His employer paid him in cash or with a check that the Baltimore resident took to a check-cashing store. A few years ago he lost his job after a severe illness and for a time was homeless. Not exactly the type of customer you'd expect a big bank to court. But Pagan-Franco enrolled in a PNC Bank program that targets consumers who otherwise might be shut out of the banking system. And today, the 54-year-old has checking and savings accounts at PNC and is in the process of getting a credit card.

If the Black Eyed Susan were a race horse, it would be a sprinter. It makes one strong move, then fades quickly. The strong move occurs this weekend when the cocktail will be in demand at Pamlico Race Track, during both the running of the Black Eyed Susan Stakes on Friday and the Preakness Stakes on Saturday. Over these two days, about 25,000 servings of the libation, poured into commemorative glasses, will be sold at $8 apiece, track officials say. But as soon as Preakness weekend ends, so does the does the local thirst for the Susan.

All along, they had been so relaxed. So when it came time for Team O'Neill's horse to make his charge -- a historic one -- the colt moved forward almost nonchalantly. I'll Have Another glided past Bodemeister to win the 137th running of the Preakness Stakes on Saturday at Pimlico Race Course, setting up a chance at the first Triple Crown since 1978. The California-based horse is the 12th to win the first two legs of the Triple Crown since Affirmed edged Alydar in all three races.

Here are our picks for what horses to bet in the 2011 Preakness Stakes: Race 1 10:45 a.m. Analysis: Expect Boreal Forest to set the early fractions, as he has in his previous starts. He will have less competition on the lead than in previous efforts. As a result, he could carry his speed a long way. He is tested at this level, so the class is no problem. Issues and Answers comes in off just a maiden win, but he did win at a good level and should compete well here.

Kevin Plank can't help himself. The Under Armour CEO might know, in his heart of hearts, that his horse is a long shot against the world's finest 3-year-old thoroughbreds. His farm manager, Tom Mullikin, describes the dark bay colt as more "grinder" than star. But Plank's own rise, from blindly ambitious college kid to billionaire apparel mogul, is an underdog tale. So he can't help but play Joe Namath and talk big about his colt's chances in the 137th Preakness Stakes. "Tommy, did you guarantee on Tiger Walk?"

It didn't take long for right-hander Jake Arrieta to retreat to the video room inside the Orioles' clubhouse to go over another tough start Wednesday afternoon. Shortly after the Orioles' 6-5 series-finale loss to the Boston Red Sox at Camden Yards, Arrieta could be found inside a dark room full of computers, trying to find answers to explain his up-and-down season. When the 26-year-old right-hander has pitched well, he has shown the potential to become the front-line ace the organization needs, but when he has struggled, he has had heads shaking.

During all the mounting losses, the short outings, the brutal beatings from the opposition that left-hander Brian Matusz endured last season, the Orioles faithful remained fairly kind, with only a smattering of boos for his worst performances. Matusz was, after all, considered a key to the club's future after a solid 2010, and the fan base was just waiting to embrace him again. So when he walked off the Camden Yards field Tuesday after throwing a two-hit gem in a 4-1 win against the Boston Red Sox, the announced crowd of 25,171 -- at least those there to cheer the Orioles -- showed its appreciation with a loud and long standing ovation.

My niece, Natalie Barton, is an extra in the movie "The Avengers. " She is the daughter of Linda Southall-Barton and grand-daughter of Herb and Mary Lou Southall. Natalie and her mother traveled to Ohio to go on the "extras" red carpet on opening night. The CGR Relentless 5K and Fun Walk will benefit the Cody G Richardson Memorial Scholarship Fund. It will be held on June 2 in Perryville. The run/walk will start and end at Perryville Middle School, proceed down Aiken Avenue, turn right on Broad Street, right on Susquehanna Avenue, left on Frenchtown Road, left on Broad Street and left on Aiken Avenue.

Word got out on area blogs over the weekend, and it's true. The Donna's on Snowden River Parkway in Columbia closed Sunday after a 10-year run. “It's been tough,” onwer Alan Hirsch said about the closing. ““It was a great experience. Our customers became our friends. We had a decent business there but just not enough for us to commit to another 10-year lease.” Hirsch said that business continues to be excellent at the Donna's locations in Charles Village and Cross Keys.

In their most recent hot stretch, the Orioles have milked the drama -- with their previous seven wins coming by a margin of three runs or fewer. For much of Saturday's 6-5 victory, the trend looked like it finally would end, with their most consistent starter, Jason Hammel, cruising, and Adam Jones and Nick Markakis each hitting two-run homers against the Washington Nationals to take a 6-0 lead into the fifth. But these surprising, exciting, befuddling Orioles apparently don't do things the easy way. There must be no fun in that after all these years of losing.

WASHINGTON, DC -- Since the Orioles and Washington Nationals began their so-called rivalry in 2006, there's been a consistent theme.The clubs have never had a winning record at the same time when they've met for interleague play. Oftentimes, they've been awful simultaneously. But in the Bizarro World that is the 2012 season - Albert Pujols can't hit, the New York Yankees can't pitch and the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies are cellar dwellers -- the Orioles and Nationals owned two of baseball's six best records heading into Friday night.

In a veterans-only meeting with coach John Harbaugh on Wednesday, Ray Lewis' message was: Cherish every game in December. After the Ravens' 48-3 rout of the Detroit Lions, the middle linebacker delivered some more advice: Run the football. The Ravens reverted to their power ground game, running for 308 yards, the second-most in team history, and scoring a team-record five rushing touchdowns. The one-game switch to last year's run-first philosophy came much to the delight of nearly everyone in the locker room.

Athletes from 22 states and from as far away as England gathered at Severna Park High School last weekend for the B&A Trail Marathon and Half Marathon. The race, which started and finished at the school, was sponsored by the Annapolis Striders running club.

Rosie Napravnik has been establishing herself as one of the world's top female jockeys in 2012, which continued Friday afternoon as the ran away with the second-annual Female Jockey Challenge at Pimlico Race Course. The competition consisted of seven premier female riders, who earned points for finishing in the top four among challenge competitors in four different races. Napravnik finished with 34 points, while Tammy Piermarini, the runner-up, tallied 16. “I haven't had much luck in these challenges, but I guess it all changed today,” Napravnik, a Maryland native, said.

One factor that would seem to be in Denver's favor heading into Saturday's quarterfinal matchup against No. 1 seed Loyola is a familiarity with reaching this stage of the NCAA tournament as underdogs. The Pioneers entered the 2011 quarterfinals as the No. 6 seed and as an underdog, but stunned No. 3 seed Johns Hopkins,14-9, to advance to the Final Four. But much as he did with the question of defeating a team three times in a single season, Tierney shrugged off any suggestion that his team's experience is an edge against a Greyhounds team making its first appearance in the quarterfinal round since 2001.