Archive for the ‘preakness’ Category

After a depressed infield at last year’s Preakness due to the ban on the tradition of bringing your own beer, executives have made a move to try and bring back the crowd that abandoned Pimlico last year. Organizers are cutting the cost of admission and offering all-you-can-drink-beer.

For only $20, each infielder can purchase a refillable cup along with a $10 cut in admission. "We were boycotted by the college kids, but we still believe that was the right decision," said Mike Gathagan, spokesman for the Maryland Jockey Club. "Obviously, we took something from them last year. This is trying to give something back."

Will this bring back the college kids or has the damage already been done? I suspect where there’s all-you-can-drink-beer, college-aged and college-minded folks of all stripes will be there in droves.

Read it at the Baltimore Sun

Then come back to the Paulick Report and let us know what you think

- Bradford Cummings

By Ray Paulick
I don’t expect Jess Jackson to surprise us and call in with the Rachel Alexandra announcement the racing world has been breathlessly waiting for (you know, will she or won’t she?), but one never knows. Chip Woolley might give us some thoughts about potential jockeys for Mine That Birdor or even talk about Stupid Motorcycle Tricks. Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin could charm us into believing that Charitable Man is a cinch to win the Belmont Stakes, and Jerry Hollendorfer may convince us that all Chocolate Candy needed in the Kentucky Derby was another quarter mile.

At any rate, starting shortly after 1 p.m. (EDT), I’ll be live blogging the NTRA’s Triple Crown teleconference call concerning the June 6 Belmont. Trainers Woolley, McLaughlin and Hollendorfer are the scheduled guests. I’m betting that moderator Eric Wing’s questions will be twice as long as the answers given by two of the three men (you can guess which one is more verbose!), but, hey, it’s a slow news day.

1:05 p.m. … This isn’t starting off well. The Muzak renditionwhile of the Beatles "I"m Happy Just to Dance With You" while I was on hold waiting for the conference to begin was utterly depressing. John and George are spinning in their graves. I didn’t know the song was a slow ballad.

1:07 p.m. … Eric Wing starts off with Chip Woolley and asks if there will be enough pace in the race if Rachel Alexandra doesn’t go. He’s not worried, saying that a slow pace puts Mine That Bird closer to the pace than usual. How long will he wait for a jockey if the decision about Rachel Alexandra extends till next week, putting Calvin Borel on the fence? "About to or close to entry time. I’m gonna give Calvin as much time as possible…to keep him from losing two mounts. He won me the Derby. I owe him the opportunity if it’s possible."

"It’s irrelevant to me" if the filly does or doesn’t go, Woolley says. He just wants Calvin on his horse. "I believe it would be good for racing (if Rachel goes). It brought out a lot of people last time."

1:10 p.m. … "It’s been a lot of fun…the one thing it’s done is validated my career," Woolley said when asked what winning the Derby meant to him. Woolley said he spent 25 years working hard and the Kentucky Derby gave him "validation" for what he’s done. "I thought today he looked as good as he’s looked…period," Woolley said of Mine That Bird’s condition. He expressed some concern that Mine That Bird’s closing kick might be compromised a bit on the Belmont’s deeper surface.

What has he learned about training a horse through the demanding the Triple Crown? "Fortunately for me, my horse only runs about three-eighths of a mile, so it’s not quite as hard on him as it has been for the other horses," he said. "It’s just horse racing. It’s just on a higher level. You just try to keep your horse in the best of shape and hope you don’t miss anything."

"He’ll gallop Friday, Saturday, Sunday, work Monday, walk Tuesday and leave Wednesday," he said of the Birdstone gelding’s schedule.

"You’ve got to respect Charitable Man, he’s a monster on that racetrack," Woolley said when asked about who he fears. Woolley said you have to respect all of the competitors in the race.

Woolley said his stable back in New Mexico is in the hands of his brother, though he checks in daily. "I have to keep my fingers in it. I can’t stand not to," he said.

1:18 p.m. … Is Woolley concerned about the effects the Triple Crown will have on Mine That Bird, who could have a long career since he is a gelding? The trainer said he plans to give him a month off  after the Belmont and only has three more races scheduled for the year. "He’s handled it well (so far)," Woolley said. "If the horse hadn’t been on his very best game we probably would have passed it up," he said of the Belmont. "I haven’t put much thought to it," Woolley said when asked whether or not he thinks Rachel Alexandra will run in the Belmont. 

1:20 p.m. … How important is timing Mine That Bird’s move in the Belmont. "Absolutely," it’s important. "If you push the button too early you could come up empty at the wire. It’s imperative we get the right trip and make our move at the right time. If you look at previous Belmonts, on average the horses closer to the pace tend to win. History says you need to be a little closer to the pace. So he’s got his work cut out for him."

"I’ve seen the films of Birdstone winning the Belmont, but it has no bearing on my horse’s race," Woolley said when asked about Mine That Bird’s breeding. "We were the best horse in the Derby on that given day and I felt we were the best horse in the Preakness on that day. Going into this I think we have the best horse."

"I managed to get him beat twice at Sunland Park…so I can see why he went off at long odds in the Derby. What nobody paid much mind to was that we changed his tactics."

What are the three races he’s plotted out? "We haven’t really decided where those races are and what they’re going to be, other than the Breeders’ Cup," he said.  Woolley said he is likely to return Mine That Bird to Churchill Downs after the Belmont, or somewhere close to Churhill. "We’re looking at all options, every major race around. It could be anywhere," he said.

1:25 p.m. … Was there any change of equipment from Sunland to the Kentucky Derby? "D bit and a tongue tie. That’ s all he really needs. The horse is such an easy horse to ride, so he doesn’t need any specific equipment. The main thing is just to ride with patience. That’s all I really wanted."

1:28 p.m. … Can Mine That Bird make a transition in running style to be closer to the lead at the eighth pole and will he like the "big sandy," the nickname of Belmont’s main track. "I don’t think the depth of the racetrack will probably bother him as much as the other horses," he said. Woolley said he isn’t going to change Mine That Bird’s running style.

Why did he ship back to Churchill after the Preakness instead of going to Belmont? "He got a little rattled on me when I got him to Pimlico. As soon as he got back here he settled right in." Woolley knew Mine That Bird had trained well at Churchill and was concerned about how well he would handle Belmont in the mornings during the two breezes schedule between the Preakness and Belmont Stakes.

1:30 p.m. … "I don’t want Calvin sitting on the sidelines,"  Woolley said again about the delay in naming a rider. For that, he deserves some kudos. He understands the pickle Borel is in between Rachel Alexandra and Mine That Bird, and it would be easy for him to go out and get another rider ("They’ve all called me," he said.) Woolley just moved up in my book because of that loyalty to Borel.

1:32 p.m. … Kiaran McLaughlin is on. Is the Belmont a race in which tactical speed is important? "I think you have to be forwardly placed most of the time, but it’s also what your competition is and how the race shapes up for each horse. Mine That Bird, I agree with his trainer that he’s going to continue to run his style. Jazil (McLaughlin’s Belmont winner) had that style and we didn’t change. I have a lot of respect for Mine That Bird…but I wouldn’t trade places with anybody."

1:35 p.m. … What does McLaughlin make of Rachel Alexandra’s effort in the Preakness? "She’s a superstar, and it was a great day for our industry…although for both of them to run back in 35 days or 36 days it’s hard to do that. So it will be hard on her and tough on her to win the Belmont in a mile and  a half. Mine That Bird is a tough little horse. I DON’T see them running Rachel Alexandra."

How has Charitable Man bounced back? "He was one more work scheduled this Saturday, and then gallop to the race after that. He’s training great, eating well…he’s doing very well."  Does Charitable Man need a fast track? McLaughlin doesn’t think so. "He can handle anything other than the Polytrack," he said.

"I don’t think it is a big advantage (training on the Belmont surface," McLaughlin said. "The advantage is that we’re here." He said the stress of travel for horses can make a difference. "He doesn’t have to travel. He doesn’t have to get on a van or a plane, so that’s a plus. Belmont isn’t the kind of racetrack that horses either like or dislike."

What happened to Charitable Man to delay his 3-year-old campaign? "He cracked a shin," McLaughlin said, having a screw put on the bone and later removed. "We just didn’t have enough time to have him fit enough to run in a proper series of prep races. We made the choice to go in the Blue Grass (three weeks before the Derby). … Mr. Warren (the owner) was kind enough and patient enough to wait for the Peter Pan." The shin is completey healed, McLaughlin added.

"I’ve always dreamt fo winning the Kentucky Derby, and it’s hard to pass up the Kentucky Derby if you have a horse that qualifies on graded earnings. … I just thought running back in three weeks off the Blue Grass" would be detrimental for the rest of the year. "He’s a great sportsman," McLaughlin said of Warren, "and I didn’t have to twist his arm (not to run in the Derby." Warren wanted to do what was best for the horse, McLaughlin said. What a concept!

"He’s a beautiful horse, a magnificent horse," McLaughlin said of Charitable Man. 

1:43 p.m. "After he ran in the Preakness," McLaughlin said of Mine That Bird, "I have a lot of respect for him. He’s a gutsy little gelding." McLaughlin was stabled in the same barn as Mine That Bird before the Derby and said there was no comparison in looks between his horse and the Derby. "He’s a little gelding who cost $9,500 as a yearling," he said. McLaughlin thought Calvin Borel and the wet track had a lot to do with the Derby win, but felt the Preakness validated him as a good horse.

1:45 p.m. … McLaughlin said he actually had three horses under consideration for this year’s Derby and ran none of them. In the future, he said, he’d run four or five in the race if he could. "God put our eyes in the front of our head, so I always look forward, so I’m not going to look backwards," McLaughlin said, when asked if he thinks he might have been able to win the Derby with Charitable Man.

"Part of me wants to see her run and part of me doesn’t," McLaughlin said of the Rachel Alexandra’s possible run in the Belmont. "If she runs, she’ll probably be forwardly placed, and I do think we can beat her," he added. "It would mean a lot to the Belmont Stakes and NYRA if she’s in it, but Mine That Bird brings a lot to the race." Does a mile and half take more out of a filly? "It probably does…but I don’t think the mile and a half takes more out a horse than a mile and a quarter does on the first Saturday in the May." The faster fractions and bigger field make the Derby a tough race on a horse, McLaughlin said.

1:50 p.m. … Mafaaz, the horse who qualified for the Kentucky Derby by winning a race in England and then ran poorly in the Blue Grass Stakes, is now at Shadwell Farm in Lexington. He was switched from John Gosden to McLaughlin. McLaughlin said the horse has been gelded and will probably run at Saratoga.

1:52 p.m. … Jerry Hollendorfer is on the line. "He seems to be getting over the (Belmont) strip. He’s getting over the track very well (in his workouts and gallops)," Hollendorfer said. "Garrett’s ridden Chocolate Candy before and he’s won on hm last year. We’ very happy to have Garret (Gomez) riding our horse. He’s one of the best in the country." 

"You can only guess (on whether Chocolate Candy has improved since the Kentucky Derby). We think we’re in a pretty good position, going over the racetrack, and we think we can get the mile and a half. … I’d rather be more forwardly placed (than Mine That Bird figures to be). We should be a little better placed than we were in the Derby."

1:55 p.m. … "He’s been doing very well at Belmont. When Garrett worked him he said he got over the track very well." What were Hollendorfer’s impressions of the Preakness? "I don’t know how they’ll bounce b ack, but I assume if both are starters they have been doing very well. Speed is an asset in any race (and Rachel Alexandra would bring in a great deal of speed). The Belmont has been good for speed horses. I think Mine That Bird is a very legitimate horse. I don’t think there’s doubt in anyone’s mind that he’s a real runner."

Some guy in San Francisco wants to know if Hollendorfer can sleep in an airplane and whether he flies first class or coach! "Yes," to sleeping Hollendorfer says, and "no" to first class. "I flew Jet Blue to New York, and they don’t have first class," he said.

I think we must be nearing the end of this call.

2:00 p.m. … Where does Chocolate Candy rank with some of Hollendorfer’s past runners? "He’s one of the best that I’ve tried to take the Triple Crown races. He’s a beautiful looking horse and he covers a lot of ground."

That’s it from the NTRA Triple Crown teleconference.

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

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Do you know an individual or organization who you think we should consider for an upcoming “Good News Friday” feature? Then please e-mail info@paulickreport.com with the name of the individual or organization and a brief description of why you think they should be featured. Additionally, we’d like to thank Rob Whiteley and Liberation Farm for encouraging us to bring to light some of the industry’s positive stories and for sponsoring this exclusive Paulick Report feature.

By Bradford Cummings
Oftentimes, the racing industry loses sight of what is important when trying to market its product. Talk of increased handle, while necessary for the bottom line of racetracks, does not change the public perception and momentum of a sport that has continued a slow and steady slide over the last 20 years. In order to grow this sport, racing needs new fans, not old fans making more bets.
 
So when the ratings came out for the Kentucky Derby and most recently the Preakness Stakes, it was a breath of fresh air and a much-needed shot in the arm for the psyche of racing. The first two legs of the Triple Crown brought in an average of 13.4 million viewers, the most since 1989 when Sunday Silence won both Classics over Easy Goer in a spirited East vs. West rivalry.
 
Individually, the Kentucky Derby brought in 16.3 million viewers with a 9.8 rating and 23 share, up 2.1 million viewers from last year. The Preakness came in at a strong 10.9 million viewers, pulling a 6.8 rating and 16 share. This number was up 3 million viewers from last year’s version with Big Brown easily pulling away from the field.
 
For those not familiar with the television ratings system, the Derby’s 9.8 rating means that 9.8% of all households with televisions were tuned into NBC’s telecast on the first Saturday of May while the 23 share means 23% of all televisions in use watched Mine That Bird pull an unprecedented upset. That means nearly a quarter of all Americans watching television showed an interest in racing’s biggest event.
 
Perhaps most significant was the true lack of a compelling storyline going into the race. Most of the favorites had been sidelined before the Derby, and morning line favorite I Want Revenge was scratched the morning of the race with an injury, leaving what has been proved to be an overrated colt from the Louisiana circuit in Friesan Fire as the betting choice. And while other sports have the ability to build audience throughout the course of a 3 hour game, the fact that a 50-1 shot won the race would have had virtually no effect on the ratings because of how quickly the telecast ends.
 
Much credit must go to NBC, which did an admirable job selling the event throughout the week prior with promos on mainstream mainstays like the Today Show and investing in a solid marketing campaign. The fact a long shot won only added to the mystique of the Derby they so effectively sold.
 
That momentum allowed for the male vs. female storyline to be created with Rachel Alexandra and the unintended positive consequences of media coverage from Mark Allen and Ahmed Zayat’s conspiring to keep her on the sidelines. Proving the old adage there’s no such thing as bad press, the Preakness well out performed every other running this decade except for Smarty Jones in 2004, which brought a 7.7 rating and 23 share.
 
Of course, all of these numbers are irrelevant without some perspective and comparison to other top events in high profile professional U.S. sports. While the Kentucky Derby will not be in the same league as the Super Bowl anytime soon with its 42 rating, racing’s biggest day in 2009 stands incredibly strong with other major championship equivalents.
 
The final game of the NBA Championship from last year, in a matchup of the two most storied franchises in the league, drew only 12.6 million viewers.  The Stanley Cup Playoffs featuring the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins never saw more than 6.8 million folks tune in to a game. The Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in NASCAR, was down this year to a modest 15.95 million television fans. Even America’s Pastime peaked with just 15.49 million at home spectators during last year’s final World Series game.

Something the ratings do not take into account is the large number of racing fans who watch and wager on events like the Triple Crown races and Breeders’ Cup at a local track or simulcast site. Kentucky Derby Day is the biggest day of the year at some tracks, and those in attendance are not counted as television viewers.

This ranks the Kentucky Derby as the second most watched professional sporting championship of the last year, a fact few in the industry would have assumed. And the news is actually better than it looks. Wedged in at around 6 p.m. EST and potentially distracted by the dinner bell or an eventful Saturday, a viewer more likely schedules their day around the Derby coverage whereas a typical championship game appears during the primetime hours of 8-11 pm. That coupled with the lack of build up for the average racing fan as evidenced by the paltry ratings of preps like the Florida Derby, Wood Memorial and Santa Anita Derby, means racing has a legitimate opportunity to capture the imagination of the public if marketed correctly.
 
With drug issues and safety concerns being taken seriously, there will be an opening for racing to breeze through. Will we take the opening and shoot through like Mine That Bird’s last to first rally on May 2nd? Will we look at what we have and figure out how to sell this beautiful sport to the masses beyond the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes? Can we turn the Breeders’ Cup into a legitimate championship that builds from January on?
 
The good news is we can.

Liberation Farm celebrates the many horsemen and horsewomen who strive each day to make things better for horses and those who work with them.  To learn more about Liberation Farm, click here.

Previous Good News Friday subjects: Father Chris Clay, The Race for Education, Military Appreciation Day at Keeneland, Kentucky Oaks Pink Out for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, Mary Lee-Butte and the Blue Grass Farms Chaplaincy, Mary Jo Pons and the Radio Reading Network

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

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Todd Pletcher is almost a cinch to be elected into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame as soon as he becomes eligible for nomination on the ballot. The one-time D. Wayne Lukas assistant has won four Eclipse Awards as outstanding trainer in North America (2003-2007), set records for earnings by a North American trainer and won meeting titles at more than a half dozen tracks in Florida, Kentucky and New York. He once trained 100 stakes winners in a single season.

To that end, turf writer Nick Kling of the Troy Record, wrote about Pletcher’s recent Triple Crown tailspin in a piece that appeared only in the upstate New  York’s May 19 print edition. With the paper’s permission, we are republishing Kling’s commentary online. – Ray Paulick
 
By Nick Kling

When Take The Points finished last in Saturday’s Preakness Stakes, his performance was the latest page in an incredible story being written by Todd Pletcher.

Pletcher is considered to be one of the most accomplished Thoroughbred trainers in the nation.  He is held in such high esteem that he was voted Eclipse Awards as America’s outstanding trainer four years in succession (2004-2007).

Todd has been at his best at Saratoga Race Course, winning six training titles at the prestigious meet.  In 2007 Pletcher trained three Eclipse-winning horses: Rags to Riches (3-year-old filly), Lawyer Ron (older male), and English Channel (turf male).

However, there is one area where Pletcher has not been so successful.  His horses have been awful in Triple Crown races: the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes.  The record of futility from Pletcher-trained starters in these classic events may be unparalleled.

Over the eleven most recent Triple Crown races, beginning with the 2006 Kentucky Derby, Pletcher-trained horses have finished last four times.  That is a negative batting average of 36 percent. 

In reality, it is worse than that.  He had starters in only nine of those races.  That raises Pletcher’s absolutely last quotient to 44 percent.

Harness announcer Jack E. Lee used to say the trailing horse in a race could, "see them all."  The Pletcher Triple Crown starters since 2006 who could see them all at the finish line were Keyed Entry (2006 Derby), Cowtown Cat (2007 Derby), Monba (2008) Derby, and Take The Points (2009 Preakness).

In addition, Pletcher’s 2005 Kentucky Derby starter Bandini finished 19th of 20 in that field.  2004 Belmont Stakes starter Purge finished dead last of nine starters.  2001 Belmont entrant Balto Star finished eighth of nine.

According to KentuckyDerby.com, Pletcher has started 24 horses in America’s greatest race.  21 have finished out of the money.  Todd’s best Derby results have been a pair of seconds and one third.

Only D. Wayne Lukas has had more Derby starters (43) than Pletcher.  Lukas, one of Pletcher’s mentors, has won the race four times.  Trainer H.J. Thompson had 24 Derby entrants and four winners.  Trainers Sylvester Veitch and Ron McAnally, who had 10 Derby starters, are the only other horsemen with double-digit entrants without a Kentucky Derby victory.

Using Daily Racing Form’s Formulator past performance program, I was able to find two Preakness entrants from the Pletcher barn.  One was Take The Points.  The other was Circular Quay, who finished fifth in 2007.

Pletcher’s only victory in a Triple Crown race came when Rags to Riches won the 2007 Belmont Stakes, beating subsequent Horse of the Year Curlin.  Preparing a filly to accomplish that task was an outstanding feat of training, making Pletcher’s overall lack of success more incomprehensible.

Overall, he has had eight Belmont Stakes starters, four unplaced finishers, and three besides Rags to Riches in the money.

The Breeders’ Cup is the only other event which compares to Triple Crown races in stature.  Pletcher’s relative accomplishments in Cup races is better, although not great.

According to the Breeders’ Cup website, Todd has had 55 Cup starters.  They have produced three wins, six seconds, and seven thirds.  Pletcher Cup starters have earned approximately $8 million in purse money, placing him in the top six among all trainers.

Horsemen such as Bobby Frankel and Bill Mott, Hall of Famers both, have Breeders’ Cup records in line with Pletcher’s Cup performance.

Trying to deduce what causes Todd’s Triple Crown flame-out is an exercise in speculation.  My best guess would point to two causes.

Many of the colts in the Pletcher barn are horses bred for speed.  Speed wins a lot of races, but not necessarily those at classic distances.  Several have sires cut in the mold of Distorted Humor and Elusive Quality, middle distances types who have produced Derby winners nevertheless. 

However, Pletcher’s high profile owners generally spend a lot of money on their stock and expect a return.  Pletcher is among the top trainers in the country in terms of number of juvenile starters.  Horses which break their maiden sprinting at five or six furlongs and win two-year-old stakes races at the Churchill Downs and Saratoga summer meets are unlikely to be the same animals winning Triple Crown events.

In addition, some horses from the Pletcher stable appear to have been ambitiously-spotted in Triple Crown races.  A review of their past performances reveals some horses which have done most of their racing on synthetic surfaces.  Others have mediocre dirt form, or have not done particularly well at longer route distances.

Make no mistake.  Derby fever is an affliction which strikes many owners and trainers in spring.  If that plays any part in the decisions made about Pletcher-trained horses, they are in good company.

There are some signs horsemen are beginning to rethink the idea of shoving any remotely talented three-year-old into Triple Crown races.  Take The Points, for example, had earnings which qualified him for the Derby.  His connections chose to wait for the Preakness.

Horsemen used to say Thoroughbreds were like strawberries — they could spoil overnight.  It’s only gotten worse.  Many young horses in the 21st Century have the shelf life of raw oysters.  If they are put where they don’t belong, someone might get sick.

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By Ray Paulick
Rachel Alexandra won Saturday’s $1.1-million Preakness Stakes and proved to be the super filly owner Jess Jackson thought she was when he paid a reported $7 million to buy her after her 20 1/4-length Kentucky Oaks victory May 1. The daughter of Medaglia d’Oro raced toward the lead from the start from her outside 13 post under Calvin Borel, took command on the turn for home, and held off Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird to win by a length. Musket Man was another half-length back in third and Flying Private fourth in the Triple Crown’s MIddle Jewel. 

Big Drama, Papa Clem,  Terrain, Luv Gov, General Quarters, Friesan Fire, Pioneerof the Nile, Tone It Down and Take the Points completed the order of finish. 

Rachel Alexandra was the 9-5 betting favorite and paid $5.60 to win.. Click here to view the Preakness chart.

"She’s the greatest horse I’ve ever been on in my life," Borel told NBC’s Donna Brothers after the race, adding that he didn’t think Rachel Alexandra handled the Pimico surface that well. She completed the 1 3/16 miles in 1:55.05 on a fast track that was not affected by a rainshower that arrived just prior to the 6:15 p.m. post time.

Becoming the fourth filly to win the Preakness and the first since Nellie Morse in 1924, Rachel Alexandra was just the 11th filly to contest the Preakness since Nellie Morse’s victory. The last filly to run, Excellent Meeting, was pulled up in the 1999 renewal. Borel became the first rider to win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness on different horses.

Borel had the option to ride either Rachel Alexandra or Mine That Bird and opted to go with the filly, forcing trainer Chip Woolley to seek another jockey. He wound up with Hall of Famer Mike Smith, who took the Derby winner well off the pace, rallied between horses on the turn for home, checked at the top of the stretch, passed Musket Man inside the final sixteenth of a mile but was never a threat to Rachel Alexandra.

Big Drama, as expected, was sent to the front by John Velazguez after rearing in the gate and delaying the start momentarily. But Rachel Alexandra broke well and raced head to head with Big Drama, volleying with that one through fractions of :23.13, :46.71, and 1:11.01 for the opening six furlongs. Rachel Alexandra put away Big Drama before reaching the mile in 1:35.82, opened a four-length advantage at the eighth pole, then dug in and held off Mine That Bird. "She was really struggling with the track," said Borel, who called the Pimlico surface a little deep . "Every time I asked for more, she couldn’t really get into her rhythm."

Steve Asmussen took over training duties of Rachel Alexandra from Hal Wiggins the week after her Kentucky Oaks victory. Asmussen commented after the race that his major contribution was "just staying out of the way."

Rachel Alexandra was previously owned by Mike Lauffer and breeder Dolph Morrison, the latter of whom said he was opposed to running fillies against colts in the Triple Crown classics because he believes those races are meant to showcase future stallions. Morrison and Lauffer didn’t nominate Rachel Alexandra to the Triple Crown, forcing Jackson to put up a $100,000 supplementary fee if she was going to enter. Her status as a supplementary nomination nearly kept her out of the starting gate when Mark Allen, the co-owner of Mine That Bird, and Ahmed Zayat, owner of Kentucky Derby runner-up Pioneerof the Nile, discussed entering additional horses to fill the field to the maximum 14 starters. Under Pimlico’s conditions for the race, original Triple Crown nominees have priority over supplemented horses. Allen and Zayat backed away from their plan on the same day it surfaced, one week before the Preakness.

Jess Jackson, who bought Rachel Alexandra in partnership with Harold McCormick, said the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes would be "strongly considered," but said he’ll wait to have Asmussen and assistant Scott Blasi assess how she’s come out of the race. "Would we love to run in New York?" Jackson asked. "Yes. Can she win. We think so."

The Preakness was Rachel Alexandra’s sixth consecutive stakes victory, dating back to late November. It was her eighth win in 11 starts.

Jackson said he felt vindicated over the decision made to run Rachel Alexandra against colts in the Preakness. In many ways, he said, that made this victory more satisfying than Curlin’s Preakness win two years ago. Curlin was defeated by the filly Rags to Riches in the Belmont. Jackson said he sees no reason fillies can’t beat colts, but agreed with Morrison’s decision to keep Rachel Alexandra out of the Kentucky Derby because, with its 20 starters, it becomes a "cavalry charge" that may not be in the best interests of a filly.

Asmussen said the race didn’t unfold as he expected, with the filly breaking to the outside at the start and then contesting the pace. "There were a lot of questions to be answered today," he said. 

Rachel Alexandra answered those questions resoundingly, and so did Mine That Bird, who proved that his victory in the Kentucky Derby was no fluke. "I’m thrilled to death with the race my little horse ran," said Woolley. "Everything was according to Hoyle, until the turn when he was fanned a little wide. I thought we had a chance at the eighth pole. But you have to give that filly credit. She’s a great one. The Belmont is next for us."

Borel said if given the choice in the Belmont between the Derby winner and Preakness winner, he’d stick with Rachel Alexandra. He added, however, that if the filly does not run he would love to get back on Mine That Bird.

"He’s a tough little dude," Smith said of Mine That Bird. "He worked his way through there and kept on trying. If we could have gone another sixteenth of a mile, I think he would have tackled her….Honestly, he’s one of the best I’ve been on. He’s very balanced."

Derek Ryan, the trainer of Musket Man, who continued his streak of 1-2-3 finishes in all eight of his starts, called Rachel Alexandra "a filly for ages. My horse ran well, but we got beat by a great one."

The Maryland Jockey Club reported attendance of 77,850, down considerably from last year’s 121,876 and the lowest attendance since 1983. For the first time, fans in the infield were barred from bringing their own beer, a decision that led to the smaller and less rowdy crowd. Handle from on- and off-track sources topped $86.7 million on the 13-race program, a big jump from the $73.5 million bet on the 2008 Preakness program.

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

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By Bradford Cummings

Imagine a Christmas where Walmart was not allowed to run $10 DVD player sales out of fear someone would be trampled. How about attending a Poison concert at Madison Square Garden unplugged due to concern of noise pollution? Or what if Major League Baseball used nerf balls so errant objects wouldn’t hurt fans? Those might be ideas to spring out of the minds of Magna Entertainment or Maryland Jockey Club executives.

Like a Catholic picnic without the gambling, this year’s infield experience was a complete flop by past standards after track officials adopted a new rule banning fans from bringing in their own beer. In years past, many of the infield denizens brought in as many cases of beer as they could carry. With estimates from regulars ranging between 10-25% of the usual Preakness crowd, it seems even harder to calculate the exponential difference in enthusiasm and, well, drunkedness. This certainly has its downside for the average $50 a ticket fan, but an orderly and underplayed infield would at least be good for law enforcement, right? You might be surprised.

“I grew up right down the street,” a Baltimore Fire Fighter named Dan told the Paulick Report. “Even as a kid, I remember the excitement of the Preakness. It was something you looked forward to all year. This is just sad.”

He was sitting on his bike with four other co-workers, all slouched in stances more likely to knock back a couple donuts than to help resuscitate a passed out drunk. Asked how many obviously inebriated people they saw by 2:30 in the afternoon, Dan and another fire fighter separately claimed one, caught each other’s eye and concluded they both dealt with the same guy. “It’s just not the same without the beer.” Another chimed in enthusiastically, “There ain’t no tits,” a reference to the many female flashers who partied hard in years past.

But surely they were glad no one was getting hurt this year. After all, Pimlico wouldn’t make these sorts of changes without concern for the average fan’s well being. Guess again.

“It’s not like people were dying out here,” explained fireman Dan. “The most common injury was a laceration on a guy’s index finger. It didn’t get much worse than that.” As Dan described, an infielder would be making his way through a beer, get the impulse to throw it in the air and get his finger caught in the hole.  Stupid? Yes. Tradition changer? Probably not.

Then why did they make this transformation? Our man Dan had a theory. “This is a sign they want to move the Preakness.” Wait! Stop the presses! Does our unassuming fire fighter friend have a connection with the Maryland Jockey Club that we don’t have? Although we started sweating like a kid whose best friend got an X-Box 360 before he did, the odds are significantly in our favor. But this sort of conspiracy theory, especially coming from law enforcement, doesn’t bode well for the good will not being created by the second leg of the Triple Crown.

If Baltimore’s finest were against this move to clean up the infield, surely the fans were at least skeptical. Wrong once more. We found Matt, an Orioles fan and Jager bomb connoisseur, about to throw a drink down the hatch.

“I actually kind of like it,” said our new pal. “When I was in my early 20’s, I got into the party. But now that I’m a little bit older (31), I find myself enjoying the calmer atmosphere. I think this is good for the fans.” Of course, he’s an Orioles fan so his perspective might have been a little off.

So, attendance is definitely down, no doubt. But there still had to be a party somewhere and gosh darn it, we were going to smell it out. With no one in our way, we walked quickly through the “crowd” and towards the bandstand. Surely, there were half-naked women and out of control 20-somethings as far as the eye could see. Once again, we found nothing more than a civil group of respectable citizens sipping $3.50 beers in plastic cups and being exceedingly polite to each other. There were even middle school and high school kids with their ZZ Top-loving parents in tow speckled through the gathering.

But finally, we found it, a tent with the familiar noise of frat guys just inches away from doing something stupid enough to break their bones. We hurried over to catch something nefarious, something to redeem this once rowdy ritual. Something like this video.

And we did find something like it, a video game version of the infamous port a potty beer run. And true to form, no one was playing. Did the video game version get any play throughout the day? “Not much,” the attendant said. Clearly, he was the only person more bored than law enforcement officers.

Done correctly, a move toward extra security is a good thing, effectively threading the needle between fun and safety. But at Pimlico this year, it appears the needle got stuck in their hand. Fortunately, I think we know a fire fighter who can help.