Here’s what you need to know
National Treasure wins Preakness Stakes; Kentucky Derby winner Mage is third
BALTIMORE — Trainer Bob Baffert often talks about the extreme highs and lows in horse racing. On Saturday, he experienced both by winning the Preakness Stakes seven races after watching one of his colts die on the track.
National Treasure, under a masterful ride by John Velazquez, upset Kentucky Derby winner Mage in the second leg of the Triple Crown. The win gave Baffert a record eighth Preakness win and Velazquez a victory in all three legs of the American Classics.
The Hall of Fame trainer had a wide range of emotions after the race trying to balance winning the race and losing Havnameltdown in the Chick Lang Stakes. In a postrace television interview, Baffert’s voice cracked as he struggled to share his thoughts about the day.
Havnameltdown, a horse trained by Bob Baffert, was euthanized and jockey Luis Saez was injured during a race before the Preakness at Pimlico Race Course.
“This day was like a roller-coaster,” Baffert said later. “Started out great [when I won with Arabian Lion in the Sir Barton Stakes]. Then things went bad. When we lose a horse, it’s tough on everybody. We grieve. But then for this horse to come back and pull us out of that dark area that we were in … that’s why I love those horses.”
The race played out just as expected with National Treasure going to the lead as Velazquez tried to slow the early pace with the hopes of hanging on for the win. It mostly played out that way as National Treasure led all the way around the track until the top of the stretch in the 1 3/16-mile race. That’s when Blazing Sevens started to pull even and by mid-stretch even poked his nose in front.
Preakness Stakes betting update: $1.7 million added to win pool
BALTIMORE — The money is starting to come in to the Preakness win pool, with about $1.7 million added in the past hour.
The odds board remained about the same with Red Route One ticking up from 6-1 to 7-1.
The last hour is when the majority of the money will come in. The fact there are only seven horses in the race is likely discouraging betting on the win because all the prices are too low to make money. Bettors might be switching to exactas, trifectas and superfectas.
Here are the odds with one hour to go:
1. National Treasure 5-2
2. Chase the Chaos 7-1
3. Mage 2-1
4. Coffeewithchris 8-1
5. Red Route One 7-1
6. Perform 7-1
7. Blazing Sevens 4-1
Another Southern California horse wins ahead of Preakness Stakes
BALTIMORE — Southern California-based horses picked up a third win Saturday at Pimlico Race Course when Straight No Chaser won the $100,000 Maryland Sprint Stakes on Preakness day.
The Dan Blacker-trained 4-year-old colt shot from the starting gate and never looked back in winning the six-furlong race. The winning margin was 7½ lengths. He set a stakes record of 1:08.27, breaking the mark of 1:08.74 set in 2019 by New York Central.
“The break was awesome,” said winning jockey John Velazquez. “I got told by the trainer, if one goes fast, you have to go a little bit faster. I just let him do what he wants to do. Pretty easy. That’s exactly how it feels.”
Straight No Chaser, who has run primarily at Santa Anita and Del Mar, paid $5.20 to win as the favorite.
“He’s always been a very talented horse, superior work horse,” Blacker said. “When we first got him in the barn, he was always very impressive. So, it’s really a relief to see him carry it into the afternoon.
“In the last eight months he’s improved a lot mentally. He’s gotten much more mature, much more straightforward to be around. You can see he’s shipped for two races now and done really well. He’s just getting better, that’s the crazy thing. … It just shows that sometimes with these horses you’ve just got to be a little patient. Luckily, we’ve got great owners who were allowing me to be patient and giving him time to mature. He’s really just peaking now.”
Santa Anita-based Beer Can Man pulls off upset in Jim McKay Turf Sprint
BALTIMORE — Santa Anita-based Beer Can Man, trained by Phil D’Amato and owned in part by Little Red Feather Racing, was the surprise winner of the Jim McKay Turf Sprint.
The 5-year-old gelding ran strong in the middle of the track to pass Nothing Better and win by a neck under jockey Flavien Prat.
“He was really sharp down the backside, jumped well out of there, was traveling super,” Prat said. “When we got to the turn, he kind of dropped the bridle and I was a bit worried. But as soon as we got into the stretch he really leveled off and kept on running.
“He’s always showed talent. I think last time after a long layoff he was probably a bit rusty. Plus he was a bit fractious in the gate and we had to wait for him to be less fractious. So, it wasn’t the best comeback, but it was a good setup for this race.”
It was Beer Can Man’s seventh win in 14 lifetime starts. He moved to the D’Amato barn from Mark Glatt two races ago. He paid $9.00 to win. The favorite, Coppola, finished third.
Preakness Stakes odds update: Betting continues to pick up pace
BALTIMORE — The betting for the Preakness Stakes is starting to pick up as more than a million was bet in the last hour. No other time period did that much action. The current win pool is at $5.729 million.
But the odds of the horses haven’t changed much since this morning.
Amazingly are the odds of Chase the Chaos (morning line of 50-1) at 7-1 and Coffeewithchris (20-1) at 8-1. In gambling parlance that is known as an underlay, a horse at shorter odds than past performances would indicate.
Mage is still the favorite at 2-1 and National Treasure is at 5-2.
Here are the odds with two hours to go.
1. National Treasure 5-2
2. Chase the Chaos 7-1
3. Mage 2-1
4. Coffeewithchris 8-1
5. Red Route One 6-1
6. Perform 7-1
7. Blazing Sevens 4-1
Why the Preakness Stakes no longer has a song before the race
BALTIMORE — There is that part in Triple Crown races where the crowd, and television audience, is treated to a heart-warming song that captures the sentiment of the location. The Kentucky Derby does “My Old Kentucky Home and the Belmont does “New York, New York.”
And the Preakness, well, they don’t have a song. At least not anymore.
Rick Hutzell, a columnist for the Baltimore Banner, had this to say about this issue.
“We dumped ‘Maryland, My Maryland’ as the state song with good reason in 2021,” Hutzell wrote. “It was a racist ode written by a traitor and irredeemably linked with Christmas rather than our state. It was long overdue for the dustbin.”
Not to get into too many details, but the song was basically an ode to the Confederacy. The song goes to the tune of “O Tannenbaum” and the lyrics from a poem by James Ryder Randall.
People tried to get rid of it for 40 years before both houses of the Maryland congress did away with it.
Maryland is one of two states that doesn’t have a state song. The other one is New Jersey.
Wonder what California’s state song is? It’s “I Love You, California” by Francis Beatty Silverwood and Abraham Franklin Frankenstein.
Preakness betting pace ticks up
BALTIMORE — The pace of betting is starting to tick up with about $800,000 going into the mutuel win pool as the odds of the horses remain unchanged. At this juncture at Churchill Downs $21.185 million had been bet. At the Preakness, the number is $4.591 million.
Mage is the favorite at 2-1, followed by National Treasure at 5-2 and Blazing sevens at 4-1.
Here are the odds with three hours to go:
1-National Treasure 5-2
2-Chase the Chaos 7-1
3-Mage 2-1
4-Coffeewithchris 8-1
5-Red Route One 6-1
6-Perform 7-1
7-Blazing Sevens 4-1
Know your Preakness horses: Blazing Sevens (Post 7)
Trainer: Chad Brown
Jockey: Irad Ortiz Jr.
Owner: Rodeo Creek Racing
Breeder: Tracy Farmer
Purchase price: $225,000
Lifetime record: 6-2-0-2
Winnings: $565,250
Last race: Third in the Blue Grass Stakes
Morning line: 5-1
Comment: If you believe in history repeating itself, this could be your horse. In 2017, Chad Brown brought Cloud Computing to Baltimore after skipping the Derby. He won. Last year, he brought Early Voting to Baltimore after skipping the Derby. He won. Well, that’s the situation we’re in with Blazing Sevens, having skipped the Derby. Outside of Mage, he’s the only horse in the race who has won a Grade 1, the Champagne at Aqueduct. He finished fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and then a horrible eighth in the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream. He hasn’t quite shown he’s a good two-turn horse.
Know your Preakness horses: Perform (Post 6)
Trainer: Shug McGaughey
Jockey: Feargal Lynch
Owner: Woodford Racing, Lanes End Farm, Phipps Stable, Ken Langone and Edward J. Hudson Jr.
Breeder: Michael Orem and J.B. Lane Orem
Purchase price: $230,000
Lifetime record: 7-2-1-1
Winnings: $130,956
Last race: Won the Federico Tessio Stakes
Morning line: 12-1
Comment: The connections for this horse had to put up $150,000 to supplement him to this race. The winner of Federico Tessio has won the Preakness only once, in 1983 when Deputed Testamony did the double. He raced against Mage in a maiden special race at Gulfstream and finished fourth. Mage, of course, won that race. He also has the same sire as Mage, Good Magic. It took Perform six tries to break his maiden. He’s yet another closer, so there could be a lot of horses in contention at the end. It should be noted that he is two for two around two turns.
Mage continues to lead latest Preakness betting odds
BALTIMORE — The odds board remained very stable the past hour with no changes to any of the horses as far as the betting public was concerned. There is still an anemic $3.850 million put into the win pool for the Preakness.
Mage remained the favorite, at 2-1, as he has been since betting opened. National Treasure is just a tick behind him at 5-2.
Here are the odds with four hours to go:
1-National Treasure 5-2
2-Chase the Chaos 7-1
3-Mage 2-1
4-Coffeewithchris 8-1
5-Red Route One 6-1
6-Perform 7-1
7-Blazing Sevens 4-1
Derby winner Mage could be a symbol of Latino success in horse racing at Preakness
BALTIMORE — It’s a scene that plays out with equal enthusiasm every year. The owner, trainer and jockey of the Kentucky Derby winner are greeted by the governor, hold a trophy aloft, thank a lot people that made it possible and then thank one another, yet again.
But sometimes the sameness of the moment gets interrupted by a small gesture, one that might even border on cliché. After Mage won this year’s Kentucky Derby, jockey Javier Castellano pulled out a yellow, blue and red flag with eight white stars in a semicircle. It was the flag of Venezuela.
This moment, lost on many, might turn out to be a watershed moment for the Latino community. It was the first time in more than 50 years that the Kentucky Derby winning jockey, trainer and owner were all Latino. In 1971, Cañonero II won the Derby and Preakness Stakes for owner Pedro Batista, trainer Juan Arias and jockey Gustavo Avila.
Know your Preakness horses: Red Route One (Post 5)
Trainer: Steve Asmussen
Jockey: Joel Rosario
Owner: Winchell Thoroughbreds
Breeder: Winchell Thoroughbreds
Purchase price: Homebred
Lifetime record: 9-2-2-1
Winnings: $633,525
Last race: Won the Bath House Row Stakes at Oaklawn
Morning line: 8-1
Comment: This horse showed a lot of promise earlier in the year finishing second in the Southwest Stakes and Rebel Stakes. But then, in the Arkansas Derby, he ran a lackluster sixth at odds of about 4-1. He hasn’t shown a lot of improvement but he also hasn’t regressed much. He, along with Mage, will be coming late, so distance shouldn’t be a problem. He keeps one of the top jockeys in Joel Rosario. Trainer Steve Asmussen has won the Preakness twice. Red Route One’s sire is Gun Runner, who tends to have late-developing progeny.
Bob Baffert’s National Treasure gaining ground in latest betting odds
BALTIMORE — National Treasure, trained by Bob Baffert, closed the gap for the favorite’s role in the last hour as post time approached for the Preakness. The colt went from 3-1 to 5-2 as Kentucky Derby winner Mage stayed on top at 2-1.
So far, $3.245 million has been placed in the win pool.
Here are the odds with five hours to go:
1-National Treasure 5-2
2-Chase the Chaos 7-1
3-Mage 2-1
4-Coffeewithchris 8-1
5-Red Route One 6-1
6-Perform 7-1
7-Blazing Sevens 4-1
Bob Baffert horse euthanized, jockey injured during race ahead of Preakness Stakes
BALTIMORE — The Preakness day card took a tragic turn during the Chick Lang Stakes on Saturday when Havnameltdown, trained by Bob Baffert, broke down and was euthanized on the track. Jockey Luis Saez was hurled to the ground and taken to a nearby Sinai hospital.
Havnameltdown was rounding the far turn when he appeared to take a bad step, throwing Saez to the ground. He suffered a broken left front fetlock injury that was non-operable, according to Dr. Dionne Benson, chief veterinary officer for 1/ST Racing, which runs Pimlico Race Course. In a gruesome scene, Havnameltdown kept running with his lower leg clearly damaged. An outrider corralled him midway in the stretch.
Benson and other veterinarians quickly made the decision to euthanize the horse on the track. A screen was placed around the horse to keep the public from seeing the final moments.
Mage let his trainers know he was ready to run in Preakness
BALTIMORE — The connections behind Kentucky Derby winner Mage were a little hesitant to commit to running in the Preakness. It even caused some speculation he might not be going to the second leg of the Triple Crown. It was on the Friday after the Derby that they finally said yes.
Asked about the delay, part-owner Ramiro Restrepo came up with the behind-the-scenes story.
“In the end, Mage has got to want to come race,” Restrepo said outside the stakes barn at Pimlico Race Course. “We’ve never made him do anything he didn’t want to do. The horse comes first.
“He doesn’t speak English but everybody else speaks horse. You’ve got to let him say, ‘OK guys I’m ready to go.’ We treated him with kid gloves two days after the race. He was like, ‘Hey, let’s get on with this.’ He didn’t want to keep walking, he was saying, ‘Hey, get me on the track and do what I’m here to do.’”
Restrepo has done nothing but be an ambassador for the sport. His easy manner and willingness to talk to anyone or take selfies has given horse racing a softer image after the deaths, scratches and suspension at Churchill Downs two weeks ago.
“He’s just flourished since then,” Restrepo said about Mage. “You have to give the horse the chance to say, ‘I’m ready to roll.’ Our selfish desires, of course, were always to come to the Preakness but you have to let horse say, ‘Hey, I’m ready to roll’ and he’s here. So, we’re ready to roll.”
Bob Baffert horse wins Sir Barton Stakes
BALTIMORE — Trainer Bob Baffert got his first win of the day in the $100,000 Sir Barton Stakes when Arabian Lion broke on top and was never headed over the 1 1/16 miles. The winning margin was four lengths.
It was a small field of five and Arabian Lion was the heavy favorite at 2-5.
Jockey John Velazquez confidently took the 3-year-old to the front as Tapit’s Conquest set up just outside him. Coming into the stretch, Velazquez shook the reins at the colt and gave him two taps with his whip and then glided the horse to the finish line.
“I wanted to keep his mind on running because he got to the stretch and started drifting out,” Velazquez said. “Obviously he has changed a lot from two starts back when I rode him [in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita]. He was a bad fourth. It didn’t seem like he wanted to go the two turns.”
Arabian paid $2.80 to win. Tapit’s Conquest was second followed by Dennington, Sherriff Ronnie and Feeling Woozy.
“I should have run him in the Preakness,” Baffert said. “I didn’t think he could lose in the Lexington [where he finished second]. I was just, ‘How did he get beat?’ I think that race sort of helped him and I wanted to give him one more time around two turns.
“He is like a smaller version of [Triple Crown winner] Justify and I think he is just starting to wake up. What I saw today was pretty impressive. … The Belmont is a possibility with him.”
Know your Preakness horses: Coffeewithchris (Post 4)
Trainer: John E. Salzman Jr.
Jockey: Jaime Rodriguez
Owner: John E. Salzman Jr., Fred Wasserloos and Anthony Geruso
Breeder: Thomas J. Rooney
Purchase price: $2,000
Lifetime record: 12-3-3-2
Winnings: $225,600
Last race: Fifth in the Federico Tessio
Morning line: 20-1
Comment: If you were allowed to make a prop bet, it would be if Chase the Chaos or Coffeewithchris would finish last. The horse has never raced at this level and has had a lot of starts at 12. He’s a Maryland bred and the last time a state-bred won the Preakness was 1983 with Deputed Testamony.He is a viable option for early speed to go with National Treasure and maybe push the pace. The problem is he is likely to be out of gas by the end of 1 3/16 miles. His last race was a fifth in the Federico Tessio, which was won by Perform, who is in the six post. One interesting stat is that he was bred by Tom Rooney, the former Florida representative in the House who is now head of the National Thoroughbred Racing Assn. The purchase price for Coffeewithchris was a mere $2,000.
Mage’s path to the Triple Crown gets easier as Preakness field shrinks
Kentucky Derby champion Mage’s path to becoming the 14th Triple Crown winner got a little easier Monday, not because of his draw for the Preakness Stakes on Saturday but because competitor Disarm was pulled from the race.
Disarm, the fourth-place finisher in the Derby, was not entered in the Preakness and instead will be pointed toward the Jim Dandy Stakes and Travers Stakes, both at Saratoga in upstate New York. No explanation was offered for skipping the Preakness.
Before the draw Monday, assistant trainer Gustavo Delgado Jr., son of Mage’s trainer, said he hoped Mage would draw to the outside. Instead, he got the No. 3 post. It really isn’t a problem with only eight horses in the second jewel of the Triple Crown.
Bets are trickling in ahead of the Preakness. Here are the latest odds
BALTIMORE — Money continues to trickle into the Preakness win pool as post time slowly gets closer. So far, $2.54 million as been bet. Still plenty of time left.
Kentucky Derby winner Mage continues to be the favorite at 2-1 followed by National Treasure at 3-1. Blazing Sevens went down from 9-2 to 4-1, but that was the only change in the last hour.
The money totals are not just on track but co-mingled from the various ADWs (advanced deposit wagering sites) and OTBs (off-track betting locations). The big push will likely start around 4 or 5 p.m. EDT.
Here are the odds with six hours to go:
1-National Treasure 3-1
2-Chase the Chaos 7-1
3-Mage 2-1
4-Coffeewithchris 8-1
5-Red Route One 6-1
6-Perform 7-1
7-Blazing Sevens 4-1
Bob Baffert reminisces about his biggest Preakness moments
BALTIMORE — Bob Baffert has won the Preakness Stakes seven times, but none more memorable than in 1997 when Silver Charm just barely beat Free House and Captain Bodgit by a head.
The Hall of Fame trainer was reminiscing Friday morning near the stakes barn about some of the more memorable Preakness Stakes in which he was involved.
“The Silver Charm race was really good,” Baffert said. “I had just won the [Kentucky] Derby and I was on a high. We were coming into the Preakness and I was like, if he wins, fine, and if he doesn’t, I don’t care. And then when he won, I actually thought he got beat.”
Baffert has always claimed that he was watching the wrong finish line. The owner, Bob Lewis, had a contrary view, as did most everyone else.
“I was watching and everyone said he won and they had me on television telling the owner Bob Lewis we didn’t,” Baffert said. “He says, ‘I think we won,’ and I told him, ‘Just relax, don’t embarrass yourself, we didn’t win.’ [Trainer] Nick Zito is behind us and Bob asks him, ‘Did he win, and he says, ‘Yes Bob, you won.’ Then I saw the replay and I was so nervous.”
Baffert went on to explain why the race was so thrilling.
“That was an exciting race because you had three [rivals],” Baffert said. “It was a short field in the Derby, it was 13 horses and they all came back to and ran in the Preakness and there was a big rivalry going on. Now they have so many horses and if they have a bad trip they just wait and go to the Belmont.
“In those days, there was a rivalry with Free House and Captain Bodgit. Matter of fact, [jockey] Gary [Stevens] said Free House had him beat and when he saw Captain Bodgit come to him that’s when Silver Charm jumped up and won that race. Probably the most exciting race.”
Silver Charm went on to finish second in the Belmont Stakes, three-quarters of a length behind Touch Gold. Free House was third and Captain Bodgit did not run.
Know your Preakness horses: Mage (Post 3)
Trainer: Gustavo Delgado
Jockey: Javier Castellano
Owner: OGMA Investments, Ramiro Restrepo, Sterling Racing and CMNWLTH
Breeder: Grandview Equine
Purchase price: $290,000
Lifetime record: 4-2-1-0
Winnings: $2,107,200
Last race: Won the Kentucky Derby
Morning line: 4-5
Comment: First off, this is a pretty lousy field for the Preakness. Only one horse that ran in the Kentucky Derby is running in this race and that’s Mage. If Mage had finished second instead of winning the Derby, he might have skipped the Preakness and pointed for the Belmont Stakes. This is the first time since 1948 that only one Derby horse has entered the Preakness. Who was that? Citation. Case closed. Mage is lightly raced with only four starts but shows a lot of maturity and skill for such a young horse. Assistant trainer Gustavo Delgado Jr. compared his ride in the Kentucky Derby to playing a game of Nintendo. The colt traveled easily and made all the right moves. He’s a little slow out of the gate and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him at the back of the field near the start of the race. That could be a problem if National Treasure, or whoever is in the lead, sets slow fractions. So, Javier Castellano might choose to place him a little farther up in the pack. His worst race was the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream where he hit the gate and was bumped around finishing fourth. It was a learning experience, especially for a second-time starter. In the Florida Derby he actually took the lead at one point but was passed by Forte in the stretch. From a betting perspective, there shouldn’t be a lot of value in the horse and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him go off at even money. (1-1 odds)
How did the Preakness Stakes get its name?
BALTIMORE — It’s obvious how the Kentucky Derby got its name. It’s a race for 3-year-olds, thus Derby, and it’s in Kentucky.
No particular genius in naming the Belmont Stakes, which is held at Belmont Park.
So, how did the Preakness get its name?
If you believe the Maryland Jockey Club — and why wouldn’t you? — you have to go back to a Native American tribe in northern New Jersey called the Minisi. They lived in an area called Pra-qua-les, which translates to quail woods for what is probably an obvious reason. As if playing a game of “telephone” a couple centuries before there was such a device, the locals eventually made the word Preakness.
Fast forward a century or so and thoroughbred owner Milton H. Sanford took to the name and called his two farms Preakness, one in Kentucky and one in New Jersey. The Garden State location in Passaic County is now called the unincorporated town of Preakness.
Legend has it that a bunch of blue bloods in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., were sitting around a pre-Gilded Age dinner in 1868 and wanted to come up with a race that would be run in two years in Baltimore. They named it … wait … The Dinner Party Stakes.
Yes, we’ll get to the part about the horse.
Meanwhile, Sanford bought a colt by Lexington and out of Bay Leaf for $2,000 and called him Preakness and his first race was to be in the Dinner Party Stakes on opening day at Pimlico Race Course. Foster was the heavy favorite in the race, but Preakness was the shocking winner, just holding on for the victory. In honor of the win, and three years later, they named a stakes race after him and called it, you guessed it, the Preakness Stakes.
Preakness the horse continued to race until he was 8 years old with some degree of success. He was sent to England to be a sire.
As Preakness got older, he became difficult to handle and his new owner, the Duke of Hamilton, wasn’t a patient guy. One time when Preakness refused to obey the royal, the owner got a gun and killed the horse. The public didn’t like that, and it led to reforms in the treatment of animals in England.
And that’s the story of how the Preakness got its name.
Know your Preakness horses: Chase the Chaos (Post 2)
Trainer: Ed Moger Jr.
Jockey: Sheldon Russell
Owner: Adam Ference and Bill Dory
Breeder: Mr. and Mrs. Dale N. Krapf
Purchase price: $10,000
Lifetime record: 8-3-2-1
Winnings: $123,950
Last race: Eighth in the Cal Derby
Morning line: 30-1
Comment: This horse, the only gelding in the race, is here only because it got an all-expenses-paid trip by winning the El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields. He followed up that race with a seventh in San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita and then an eighth as the favorite in the Cal Derby back at Golden Gate. The thing about Golden Gate is that the surface is synthetic, which is very different from dirt and more approximates turf. He won his first race in his second start on the turf at Canterbury Downs in Minnesota. He won his second race on the synthetic at Golden Gate and then the El Camino Real. It just seems he’s not a dirt horse.
Preakness betting odds: Activity is light seven hours before race
BALTIMORE — Betting on the Preakness is extremely light in the early going. Only $300,000 was bet in the last hour as the odds remained unchanged.
The overplayed rumor that Mage had been hurt (he wasn’t), hasn’t hurt his favorability with the betting public as he remained the 2-1 favorite over National Treasure at 3-1.
The third favorite is Blazing Sevens, no doubt people cluing in that trainer Chad Brown has won this race twice using the formula of skipping the Kentucky Derby and pointing to the Preakness. Blazing Sevens hasn’t run since the Blue Grass Stakes on April 8.
Here are the odds with seven hours to go:
1-National Treasure 3-1
2-Chase the Chaos 7-1
3-Mage 2-1
4-Coffeewithchris 8-1
5-Red Route One 6-1
6-Perform 7-1
7-Blazing Sevens 7-2
Know your Preakness horses: National Treasure (Post 1)
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Jockey: John Velazquez
Owner: SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Robert E. Masterson, Stonestreet Stables, Jay A. Schoenfarber, Waves Edge Capital, Catherine Donovan
Breeder: Peter E. Blum Thoroughbreds
Purchase price: $500,000
Lifetime record: 5-1-1-2
Winnings: $345,000
Last race: Fourth in the Santa Anita Derby
Morning line: 3-1
Comment: This horse has a legit chance to win. There isn’t a lot of early speed in the race and from the one post he can easily go to the lead and set slow fractions and just hope to hang on. He’s back with trainer Bob Baffert after running in the Santa Anita Derby for Tim Yakteen. This will be Baffert’s first physical appearance at the Preakness in two years. After the Medina Spirit positive medication test in the Kentucky Derby in 2021, he sent Medina Spirit to the Preakness but did not show up to keep from being a distraction. He is adding blinkers for the first time. They are used to help focus a horse and keep them from looking at their surroundings. He has two bullet works in his last two works. One negative is he has won only one time, in his debut as a maiden.
Preakness Stakes gets no respect in the Triple Crown
Editor’s note: Los Angeles Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner Jim Murray wrote about the Preakness exactly 60 years ago on May 20, 1963.)
If the Triple Crown of horse racing — the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont — were sisters, the Preakness would be the one with buckteeth and glasses. No one would notice her at a party and her dance card would contain more blank spaces than her bridgework.
The only way the Preakness can get its name in the history books is if the same horse wins it who wins the Derby and the Belmont. As far as the studbook is concerned, it’s just the eighth race at Pimlico on a Saturday afternoon. The Preakness winner is the vice president of the sport of kings. Anyone who can name the past five winners of the Preakness who were non-winners of the Kentucky Derby or the Belmont goes to the head of the class and gets a year’s free subscription to Uncle Ben’s Can’t Lose Special.
Part of the trouble is they don’t have a state drink in Maryland and their state song was not whipped up by Stephen Foster but by some German with the afternoon off and the use of the organ. “Maryland, My Maryland” is known in Munich as “Oh, Christmas Tree” and nothing more. Maryland has been on a losing streak since Barbara Fritchie.
Some horsemen scorn the Kentucky Derby because it comes too early in the year. Well, so does the Preakness. Others rap the Derby because it’s a quarter-mile shorter than the Belmont. Well, the Preakness is a sixteenth shorter than the Derby. It’s on a real Schneider.
There is something they could do. They could get Irving Berlin to whip them up something real nice with one finger and Meredith Willson to orchestrate.
They could come up with a drink like apple cider with birdseed in it — or Scotch and maple syrup. It wouldn’t be much worse than the Bourbon and weeds of Kentucky.
But there isn’t much they can do about the race itself unless Kentucky should outlaw the game. If that happens, Maryland would be the logical heir and next-of-kin. Maryland is, after all, the second most famous breeding ground for thoroughbred horseflesh. It wouldn’t do to ape Kentucky too much. The “Maryland Derby” wouldn’t do at all. The “Maryland Homburg,” perhaps, in honor of official Washington, which is only a furlong away. I guess you would say the Homburg is old hat now that the Republicans are out of office and You-Know-Who goes around bareheaded all the time to the great distress of the Danbury hat makers.
Which brings me to the reason I’m sorry Candy Spots won the Preakness. It now becomes all too apparent he should have won the Kentucky Derby. If he wins the Belmont, I’ll sit right down and have a good cry. It’s been 15 years since a horse won the Triple Crown. And, if it turns out the only horse race Candy Spots ever lost was the Kentucky Derby, that’s almost worse than not winning any. I can just see owner Rex Ellsworth and trainer Mish Tenney coming home and the little woman saying, “Darlings, you won the Preakness and the Belmont!” And their answering: “Yeah. But you should have seen the one that got away.”
I rather feel there’s more truth than horse laughs in my colleague, Al Wolf’s observation that, until Mish Tenney, no one ever thought of using the Kentucky Derby for a tightener before. Mish knows more about horses than I’ll ever know. All he has to do for that is be able to recognize a gelding across a room. But when a horse finishes one race at a limp after prepping on works alone and, two weeks later, puts away the same competition with a yawn, you have to start looking around for reasons. I think we all agree the stable was trying. They had the best rider and the best horse.
The conditioning needs some examining. You know, California has had only one legit Kentucky Derby champion in its history — Swaps. It has never had a Triple Crown champion. Maybe it never will.
It is very hard under those circumstances to settle for the sister. I mean, if you don’t have to, why take the funny looking [woman] with the curlers in her hair and the old lady always hanging around?
I think I have just the drink for the Preakness. A beer. I want to cry in it. Because, as usual, Lena Horne could have the lyrics for Candy Spots: “It’s the wrong race, in the wrong place. And though you won it, it’s a too late race …”
Is Mage hurt? Not really
BALTIMORE — After a chaotic Kentucky Derby week it was welcome relief when everyone got to the Preakness and there seemed to be little on the side of controversy. But Saturday morning, a rumor started to circulate that Kentucky Derby winner Mage had been hurt and might not be available to race in the Preakness.
As is the case most of the time, it was much ado about very little.
Co-owner Ramiro Restrepo responded to a text from The Times that said: “Horse will be in the starting gate come post time.”
Restrepo followed that up with a tweet that he hoped would settle things down.
Bottom line is that Mage is fine.
Preakness Stakes ‘will pays’ provide glimpse into betting payouts
BALTIMORE — One of the best predictors on how betting will go for a big race is when they have a two-day wager that connects the winner Friday with the winner Saturday. The results are known as “will pays.”
They do it for all the Triple Crown races, connecting a 3-year-old filly race Friday with the Triple Crown race for 3-year-olds, usually all male, Saturday.
The results are in and the outcome was not surprising with Mage and National Treasure being the two favorites, in that order. Taxed, an 11-1 shot, won the $300,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes on Friday carrying the No. 10 saddlecloth.
Here are the will plays for all the horses:
1. National Treasure $93.40
2. Chase the Chaos $1,163.60
3. Mage $62.40
4. Coffeewithchris $856.20
5. Red Route One $196.40
6. Perform $217.80
7. Blazing Sevens $160.40
8. First Mission scratched
Mage and National Treasure top early Preakness betting odds
BALTIMORE — Betting for the Preakness is dwarfed by that of the Kentucky Derby. So the numbers will tend to fluctuate as the day progresses. In the early set of figures, what stands out is that no horse has odds of greater than 8-1, and there are a couple of real longshots on the morning line that have a lot of money on them given their past performances.
Chase the Chaos (50-1 on the morning line) is at 7-1 and Coffeewithchris (20-1) is the longest shot on the board at 8-1. This should change as more money goes into the pool.
The favorite is Kentucky Derby winner Mage at 2-1. National Treasure is the second favorite at 3-1. So far, about $1.7 million has been placed in the win pool.
Here are the odds with eight hours to go.
1-National Treasure 3-1
2-Chase the Chaos 7-1
3-Mage 2-1
4-Coffeewithchris 8-1
5-Red Route One 6-1
6-Perform 7-1
7-Blazing Sevens 7-2
What time does the 2023 Preakness Stakes start? What TV channel is it on?
It’s never easy being the middle child in a three-child family. You don’t have the status of being the first or the newness of being the third.
Now you know what the Preakness must feel like.
So, now it’s time for all you middle children out there to support the second leg of the Triple Crown. Or maybe you just like horse racing. Or maybe you just like to bet. Whatever the reason, you need to know what time is the Preakness on Saturday and where can you watch it?
Let’s get to that question first before we venture back into sibling rivalry.
Weather forecast will likely translate to a fast track
BALTIMORE — Weather should not be a factor in your handicapping of Saturday’s 148th running of the Preakness Stakes. There should be some rain around race time but it should be light. The race is still expected to be run over a track that is labeled as “fast.”
According to the Weather Channel, there is a 32% chance of rain somewhere in the 6 p.m. EDT hour. The temperature will be around 77 and starting to decline about two degrees an hour as nightfall approaches. The chance of rain increases to about 58% at the 7:01 p.m. post time.
The weather is most likely to dampen the spirits of those staying after the races for an 8 p.m. Bruno Mars concert in the infield. Chance of rain at that time is 76%. The rain is expected to be light during the day with heavier storms staying south of the area.
Preakness Stakes storylines: All eyes on Mage’s Triple Crown quest
There is little time to reflect on who won the Kentucky Derby before the second leg of the Triple Crown comes up two weeks later. It’s a little over a week when entries are drawn on Monday for the 148th running of the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.
The obvious yet easy question to answer: Will there be a Triple Crown winner?
First of all, there is only one horse who could win the Triple Crown, Mage, winner of the Derby. Last year, there wasn’t a question to be asked as Derby winner Rich Strike didn’t even run in the Preakness. Instead, he waited for the Belmont Stakes, where he finished sixth.