Sports

Orb's path to the finish line in the second leg of the Triple Crown remains uncrowded. Normandy Invasion, the fourth-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby, dropped from contention for Saturday's 138th running of the Preakness on Sunday. Trainer Chad Brown and owner Rick Porter decided to stick with their original plan and point the horse toward prestigous races for 3-year-olds later in the summer. That leaves Orb, the colt co-owned by Baltimore County resident Stuart Janney III and Ogden Mills "Dinny" Pipps' stable, with only seven confirmed challengers at this point.

FRIDAY'S TELEVISION HIGHLIGHTS X Games Barcelona ESPNNoon NASCAR Sprint Cup Showdown: qualifying SPEED5 Sprint Cup All-Star: qualifying SPEED6 CW Truck N.C. Education Lottery 200 SPEED8 MLB Mets@Cubs WGN-A2:10 Tampa Bay@Orioles MASN7 Dodgers at Atlanta MLB7:30 Washington@San Diego MASN210 C. base. Notre Dame@Cincinnati CBSSN7 Georgia Tech@Miami CSN7:30 West Virginia@Oklahoma State FCS7:30 Clemson@Florida State ESPNU8 Cycling Tour of California: Stage 6 NBCSN5 PGA Euro.

For many folks headed to Preakness, the focus of the afternoon isn't the race. It's the fashion — and we don't just mean hats. If you're in the grandstands, the Jockey Club area or Corporate Village, you'll want to dress the part. Betsy Dugan, owner of Bettina Collections in Cross Keys and former co-owner of Octavia in Pikesville, has been dressing women for Preakness for years. "This is the time ... to dress up," she said. If there's one rule of thumb, it's that ladies and gentlemen at Preakness should look like ...well, ladies and gentlemen.

Handlers used special massage techniques to soothe Goldencents' muscular frame and sudsy sponges to stimulate the shine and bloom on the Preakness competitor's chocolate-colored coat — while a sizable entourage seemed transfixed. Outside the Pimlico stables, a green oasis tucked inside urban Northwest Baltimore, a crowd had gathered around Goldencents. Photographers took pictures. A cluster of men, women and children from a sunrise tour stopped to stare. Security guards looked on. The list of helpers, assistants and advisers for Goldencents and the other Preakness all-stars is longer than Stacy Keibler's prep team on Oscar night — grooms, exercise riders, hot walkers, trainers, jockeys, veterinarians, stall muckers, chiropractors, ultrasound technicians and nutritionists.

You take your good news where you get it and here's mine: the Preakness sent Kegasus packing. You remember Kegasus. Sleaze-ball centaur with the biker haircut and beer gut? Budweiser-swilling centerpiece of the Infield Fest ad campaign the past two years? Gone. Got the proverbial pink-slip. You won't see him Saturday for the 138th Preakness Stakes. "He went back to the islands and I haven't seen him since," Maryland Jockey Club president Tom Chuckas joked the other day. Good thing.

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.

TELEVISION HIGHLIGHTS MLB Orioles@Boston MASN7 Houston@Washington MASN27 Teams TBA MLB7 Teams TBA MLB10 Atlanta@Philadelphia (T) CN810:30 Houston@Washington (T) MASN11:30 C. foot. North Texas@Army (T) CBSCS9 a.m. Mississippi State@LSU (T) ESPNU1 Boise State@Wyoming (T)

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.

The good news is that, in seven years of umpiring amateur baseball games in the Baltimore area, Frank Handley has had to give the thumb to only five adults. The bad news is he had to do it again a couple of weeks ago. But we're going to turn a negative into a positive today. We're going to get the message out - a reminder, really - that parents need to keep the ugly under control and set a good example for children. And parents who see and hear another behaving badly need to speak up. The story comes to us from Nancy Turner, who was so upset at what she saw during a Baltimore County recreational baseball tournament that she wrote me a detailed email about it. The game, on a Sunday morning in May, was for 11- and 12-year-olds.

The Orioles have been getting quite a bit of national pub these days. They've been rising up everybody's power rankings , and this fella who plays third base seems to be a topic of conversation wherever you turn (even after losses like today's). Well, the Oriole Bird is getting his share of the love, too. Forbes revealed its 10 most popular mascots in pro sports on Tuesday, and our furry friend who patrols the aisles at Camden Yards is among them . As they explain, the mascots were chosen on the following crieteria: "Awareness, likeability, attention-getting, photo-friendliness, interaction and fun. " Fans were also asked if a given mascot happened to be his “absolute favorite” or “one of my favorites.” The Orioles' success on the field seemed to also be a factor in The Bird being chosen.

Submitting sports notices The deadline for submitting sports copy is 9 a.m. on Monday. We prefer email (howardcountysports@patuxent.com). Lacrosse The Howard Boys Lacrosse program is offering two camps this summer at Howard High School. The first camp will be for grades 6-8 (July 8-11). The second camp will be for grades 2-5 (July 15-18). Call 410-313-7275 for registration or 410-313-4716 for more information. Football The Mt. Hebron football program is sponsoring the 2nd annual Parking Lot Extravaganza on May 18 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Mt. Hebron student parking lot. The event includes a flea market, scrap iron drop off, comfort food sales and much more.