Preakness Love

It is without doubt the least glamorous of the Triple Crown races. The Kentucky Derby presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) of course is the among America’s most classic sports events – the Run for the Roses – the most exciting two minutes in sports. The Belmont is the Test of Champions. All others things being equal, that moniker stands prominently, perhaps even more so than the Derby glamour, when championship ballots are cast at the end of the year. But the Preakness? Even its 1-13/16 miles distance is a bit non-conformist. The Preakness is... well... the Preakness is the second leg of the Triple Crown. And often misunderstood as not much more.

Yes the city of Baltimore and the state of Maryland have plenty to offer Preakness fans. There is of course, the world class crab cakes and other blue crab delicacies, Fort McHenry, the chicken box, Orioles baseball, berger cookies and National Bohemian beer. But one has to leave all that and go to Pimlico Race Course for the Preakness. I’ve never been to Pimlico, but the reviews are not good. Nor have they been in quite some time. But the Preakness is bigger than it’s home and this is not about Pimlico or Magna Entertainment.

Quite the contrary in fact. Because this is what I love about the Preakness. Come on. It’s the middle child. Even though it is older than the Kentucky Derby by two years, let’s give the Preakness a little extra love.

I love the fact that the Preakness usually takes the great Kentucky Derby story and improves or solidifies them. The Preakness is the only race in the world after the Kentucky Derby that provides hopes for a Triple Crown winner. From Sir Barton in 1919 to Affirmed in ’78 and all nine Triple Crown winners in between, they all had to win the Preakness.

The Preakness can also be the first step in the healing process after suffering an upset loss in the Derby. It is kind of horse racing’s home to vindication. Bimelech at 2-5 odds, lost the 1940 Kentucky Derby to 35-1 long shot Gallahadian then cam back to win the Preakness and Belmont. Capot in 1949, Native Dancer (’53), Nashua (’55), Little Current (’74), Damascus (’77), Risen Star (’88), Tabasco Cat (’94) and Point Given in 2001 suffered the same paths of frustration to just short of history.

The Preakness can also be a part of an equally frustrating path for those who won the Derby and Preakness, but failed to take the Belmont Stakes. There have been twenty-one who have traveled that road with Burgoo King the first in 1932 and Big Brown the most recent in 2008. In those years, as well as in the eleven that produced Triple Crown winners, it is the Belmont Stakes that gets all the eventual attention. But it is the Preakness that makes the heads begin to turn. Somehow it seems, the middle jewel just doesn’t get the deserved credit again.

Also in the Preakness, rivalries sometimes get closer and the intensity rises. Affirmed defeated Alydar by a 1-1/2 lengths at Churchill Downs, but only by a neck two weeks later in the Preakness. Sunday Silence defeated Easy Goer by 2-1/2 in the Derby but only by a nose in the Preakness after a legendary stretch-long battle. (photo above left)

One of the best Preakness battles gets lost in history as the Derby tension between jockey Gary Stevens and Pat Day spilled over to the Preakness of 1988. Stevens had won the Derby, going wire-to-wire with the filly Winning Colors. But jockey Pat Day, who rode Derby second-place finisher Forty Niner, vowed that the filly would not get such an easy trip in the Preakness. Day succeeded in his plan as he raced Forty Niner to the lead in the Preakness and got inside position on Winning Colors and Stevens. Day carried Stevens wide in the first turn, wide down the backstretch and wide around the first turn. That’s when Day’s plan was exposed by jockey Eddie Delahoussaye on Risen Star, who turn the inside path and raced by the two leaders who had bumped each other more than once before then. Risen Star drew clear and won the Preakness ahead of a closing Brian’s Time in second. Winning Colors was third and Forty Niner and Pat Day were out of the money.

Then there is the 1981 Preakness when Angel Cordero aboard Codex, carried Derby winning filly Genuine Risk wide coming out of the final turn. Codex would cross the finish line first, but Genuine Risk jockey Jacinto Vasquez called foul. ABC Sports analyst and Hall of Fame jockey Eddie Arcaro told the national TV audience he felt Codex should be disqualified and placed second after the ABC replay of the race seemed to confirm that Cordero had even struck Genuine Risk with his whip.

But the track stewards upheld the order of finish and a national reaction ensued as the Pimilco switch board immediately flooded with calls and truck loads of mail from upset fans followed.

Because the Preakness only allows a maximum of 14 starters and many times feature eight to ten runners, the race is run more true to form – not to mention safer on equine and human alike. In fact, it has been six years since the Preakness featured a full gate of 14 starters. Because of that, there are fewer collisions, bumps and checks in the Preakness. It’s unlike the first 600 yards in the Derby where a wave of horse and human battle for the rail and good position going into the first turn. Field size alone allows a horse a greater chance to run to their potential in the Preakness.

The pace is more honest in the Preakness. Because the Kentucky Derby has such a large field, there are often an unusually large number of speed horses. With so many runners fighting for their comfort zone on the lead, the Derby pace is often out of control fast. Shackleford’s slow pace this year in the Derby was an anomaly of the greatest sorts.

Don’t forget about the Preakness trophy either. Valued at $1 million the 140-year-old Woodlawn Vase (photo above right) was made by Tiffany and Company and is the most valuable trophy in American Sports. Painting the colors on the winning owner on the weather vane immediately after the race is also a wonderful tradition.

Yes the Preakness does not have the glamour, prestige or championship credentials of the Kentucky Derby or the Belmont. Yes the Preakness does not come from the best home and it is even shorter than the other two. Forget the fact that the Preakness fouled up an apparent track record for Secretariat. It deserves more recognition than it sometimes gets. The winning owners, trainers and jockeys are elated to win the Preakness each year and probably appreciate the significance than most sports fans. But like other events, athletes and teams that go on over shadowed, there’s still plenty to love about the little race.

Spiral Stakes History Dotted With Popular Stars

Although the $500,000 Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes took a hit from the North American Graded Stakes Committee this year by being dropped a class down to grade 3, the marquee event for Turfway Park in Florence, Kentucky has featured some significant stars preparing for the first Saturday in May.

Although the race had attracted several good horses since the first running in 1972, it wasn’t until D. Wayne Lukas brought Marfa to Turfway Park to win the 1983 Jim Beam Spiral Stakes when the race began to garner national attention. Marfa went on to finish fifth in the Kentucky Derby (gr. 1) that year behind winner Sunny’s Halo and fourth in the Preakness behind Deputed Testamony. A year later the race was given grade 3 status and was quickly becoming the new race on the block for those preparing for the Kentucky Derby.

Three years later Broad Brush was shipped to Turfway from his home base in Maryland to win the Jim Beam Spiral Stakes before finishing third in both the 1986 Kentucky Derby and Preakness.

The Spiral Stakes then hit it’s golden years in the 1990s starting with 1990 winner Summer Squall and 1991 winner Hansel, both of which would go on to win the Preakness. Hansel also set the track record for a 1-1/8 miles, stopping the clock in 1:46.60. A year later the Spiral Stakes was won by Lil E. Tee and few weeks later the race had produced its first Kentucky Derby winner as Lil E. Tee won also won the 1992 Run for the Roses. The roll through the decade continued as 1993 winner Prairie Bayou would become the third future Preakness winner in four years to have gone through the Turfway Park winner’s circle.

In 1995, Serena’s Song (photo above) became the first filly to win the Jim Beam Spiral Stakes, and while she had little impact on the Triple Crown, the D. Wayne Lukas-trainee would defeat colts in the Haskell Invitational (gr. 1). The future Hall of Fame filly also won the grade 1 Beldame Stakes over older mares in New York that year and was eventually named the Champion 3-Year-Old Filly of 1995.

Jockey Pat Day has the record for the most Spiral Stakes victories with five, but trainer William E. Adams has the most impressive streak in the races history. From 1977-80, Adams trained seven consecutive winners of the Spiral Stakes as the race was split into two divisions in three of those four years.

The Spiral Stakes may have lost a bit of its luster over the last few years, but it has still produced some popular Derby contenders in Hard Spun and Perfect Drift.

Hard Spun won the 2007 Spiral (Then named the Lane’s End Stakes), before finishing in the money in all three Triple Crown races. He finished second in the Kentucky Derby behind Street Sense then finished third in the Preakness and fourth in the Belmont.

Perfect Drift was third in the Kentucky Derby behind winner War Emblem, but his 3-year-old year was just the start of a long career. He would go on to run at age seven and appeared in five consecutive Breeders’ Cup Classics (gr. ) from 2002-2006, finishing third in 2005 and fourth in 2004. Perhaps his best year was 2003 when Perfect Drift won the Stephen Foster Handicap (gr. 1), the Hawthorne Gold Cup (gr. 2), the Kentucky Jockey Club Handicap (gr. 2), and the Washington Park Handicap (gr. 3). Two years later, he would win his second Washington Park Handicap in track record time and finish second in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

While this year’s Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes does not an Uncle Mo, Dialed In or any of the other leading 3-year-olds this year, the field is again solid. And if history tells us anything, there’s probably a star somewhere in the field.