Winners

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.

Before you turn on tonight's premiere of “So You Think You Can Dance” there are a few things you should know. The format and rules, which have stayed pretty much the same for the past eight seasons, have been changed drastically.  First, the show will no longer be on two nights per week. It's a strategic manuever that will look to increase the suspense in each episode. Essentially, the eliminations will be done in a two-week rotation. During the first week, the dancers will perform and on the second week they will perform again.

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.

Parkton American Legion Post 256 received 129 essays from students at Prettyboy, Fifth District and Our Lady of Grace schools for its annual Americanism essay contest. This year's title was "How Can I Show My Patriotism in My Community" Jonathan Marker, a fifth-grader at Fifth District and Joshua Beach, in eighth grade at Our Lady of Grace, were honored at a banquet on May 3 in Baltimore for their third-place finishes in their grade levels in competition against 18 legion posts in the northern central district.

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.

The nation watched as winning numbers for the record-setting Mega Millions jackpot were revealed Friday night, and then waited all day Saturday to learn the identity of a lucky Baltimore County shopper who would split the $656 million. His or her identity, however, remains a mystery. Three winning tickets were sold for the multistate lottery — in Maryland, Kansas and Illinois — and the ticket holders will split the pot. While the winners' identities remained unknown early Sunday, the buying frenzy in which 1.5 billion tickets were sold for $1 apiece turned to wild guessing as to who they are and why they haven't stepped forward.

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.

2011 Masters: Charl Schwartzel (South Africa) 2010 PGA: Martin Kaymer (Germany) British Open: Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa) U.S. Open: Graeme McDowell (Northern Ireland) Masters: Phil Mickelson (U.S.) 2009 PGA: Y.E. Yang (South Korea) British Open: Stewart Cink (U.S.) U.S. Open: Lucas Glover (U.S.) Masters: Angel Cabrera (Argentina) 2008 PGA: Padraig Harrington (Ireland)

Even though Consuming Interests blogger Liz Kay may have said goodbye to The Baltimore Sun , she's back as guest judge of the Cheap Halloween Costume Contest. Here's what she had to say about this year's entries. Our main winner will get the Jurassic Park Ultimate Trilogy, and our honorable mention will get a copy of Fast Five (the latest in the Fast and Furious franchise). Winners, stand by -- we'll be contacting you today on how to collect your prizes. We got some super impressive entries in Consuming Interests' first-ever Cheap Halloween Costume contest.

Of the articles I have read about the Exxon-Mobil station leak of 2006, it seems like every other paragraph mentions the $1.5 billion awarded to the 160 families involved in the class action suit and the amount that some families will receive. Some will receive a lot more than others because they suffered more. But of the three articles I have read, not one of them mentions how much the lawyers stand to gain out of the settlement. I hope the parties involved opt for one-third to go for the lawyers.

As a child, Kathryn Manion used to sit on her father's lap late into the evenings and read with him. That, said her father, Jim Manion, didn't last long. "She quickly began to read on her own," he said, adding jokingly, "I guess we weren't reading fast enough. " Not nearly. Tuesday night in New York City, Washington College senior and Clarksville native Kathryn Manion received Washington College's Sophie Kerr Prize for her body of short stories and other creative work. At more than $58,000 this year, it is considered the most lucrative undergraduate literary award in the country.

I'll Have Another, fresh off winning the second leg of the Triple Crown, nipped at anyone who came by Sunday morning. He was more playful than ornery. Someone told trainer Doug O'Neill that the colt's eyelids looked heavy.  "He's always got that look," O'Neill shot back. It's true. I'll Have Another appeared only mildly bothered yesterday after running a mile and three-sixteenths in under two minutes and being herded into a crowded winner's circle. After his connections partied late into the night outside of his barn - except for O'Neill, who went to his hotel room with his wife and kids and ordered room service - I'll Have Another was spry at dawn.

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.

Revelers in the Preakness Infield were jovial Saturday morning, staking out prime spots -- near the track for some, and near concert stages for others. Lines for betting moved quickly, while the wait for those paying $20 extra for a refillable beer mug quickly swelled to a 30-minute wait. "I'm in it for the experience," said Megan Yardchik, a Federal Hill resident attending her third-straight Preakness in a wide-brimmed, gold and white straw hat. Yardchik and friends Leah Rogan and Matthew Egan staked out a spot near the Jagermeister tent in the middle of the infield, indifferent to the horses circling them but for the chance to win money off of them.

The jockey had raced an Arabian horse only once before and had never met the trainer before. The trainer, a former jockey himself, has never actually mounted an Arabian. The owner is an 18-year-old Shiek who, according to the trainer, knows very little about horses, even Arabians. Experience seemed to be insignificant when it comes to T M Fred Texas, the 5-year-old Arabian who followed a world championship in Dubai in March with a victory Saturday in the first President of United Emirates Cup at Pimlico Race Course . T M Texas paid $4.40.

As jockey Joe Bravo slid off Teeth of the Dog to talk to trainer Michael Matz after Saturday's Preakness, he was smiling. It might have seemed an odd expression for a jockey whose horse had just finished fifth. But Teeth of the Dog was the highest-finishing Maryland-trained horse in the race - and it had been a glorious race. Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another came from 31/2 lengths back down the stretch to forge ahead of the betting favorite, Bodemeister, by a neck at the finish.

I know, you’ve all been waiting, and they’re finally here!  Here are the winners of the Project Fresh Show Me Your Food Porn Contest . It was a tough competition! You made our mouths water here at b ! Congratulations! First Wendi Mosteiko, of Morrell Park Second Rachel Rappaport, of Lauraville     Third Nikki Bass, of Nottingham  

A reception to announce the winners of the annual Eldersburg Photo Contest, sponsored by the Carroll Eagle and Eldersburg.Net, will be held Friday, Feb. 10, 5 to 6 p.m., at the Eldersburg Library, 6400 Hemlock Drive, Eldersburg. The event will include a slide show of the entries and the announcement of the winners. The public is invited. Entries had been posted on Eldersburg.Net for viewing and voting, and winners were determined through a blended rating of the online votes and a judging panel.

The deadline for submitting sports copy is 9 a.m. on Mondays. We prefer email (howardcountysports@patuxent.com). We do not accept results by phone. When two Howard County teams play, players from both teams (first and last names) must be mentioned in the write-up. Questions? Call 410-332-6578. Running Musical Madness 5k Winners of this year's Musical Madess 5k Run - Eric Schuler and Robyn Humphrey - are no strangers to the podium. Humphrey, also the women's champion in last year's race, was joined this year by second- and third-place finishers Caroline Bauer and Pat Wilkerson, making it a sweep for the Howard County Striders team in the women's race.

Almost immediately, there was talk of lucky numbers. Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another drew the No. 9 post at the draw for the 137th running of the Preakness. After his horse raced from the 19th position -- and became the first to win from that spot -- in Kentucky, Doug O'Neill saw no problem. "Anything with a nine is fine for us," the gregarious trainer of I'll Have Another said. Bodemeister, meanwhile, drew the seventh spot. That, friends joked with trainer Bob Baffert, could work; his son Bode, after all, is 7 years old. But when the talk of good fortune and happy circumstance subsided, slivers of evidence revealing how the race will be run were left.