By Ray Paulick and Brad Cummings
It’s Preakness Saturday, and the Paulick Report will be getting its Preak On all day at Pimlico race course. Well, at least we’ll be on the scene at Old Hilltop, and throughout the day will be providing reports and observations on some of the goings on at Maryland horse racing’s biggest annual party and the sport’s middle jewel of the Triple Crown.

The early betting in the Preakness had Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver and beaten betting choice Lookin At Lucky battling for favoritism. Are all those who put their money on the Bob Baffert-trained Lookin At Lucky following Ray Paulick’s advice? Doubtful. More likely it’s the Andy Beyer influence, which has been a Preakness phenomenon for a number of years. The old sage from the Washington Post and the creator of Beyer Speed Figures has had an unmistakable impact on the betting public’s decisions at the Preakness before, and his selection of Lookin At Lucky is probably the reason for the early money.

Count on blue skies, a fast track, and lots of trouble brewing in the infield, thanks to the Maryland Jockey Club’s all-the-beer-you-can-drink-for-a-double-sawbuck promotion. I hope there’s 10,000 or so designated drivers out there, because when this party is over, it’s going to be a mess.

1:00 p.m. …. Preakness Day Charts. Five races on the Preakness card are in the books, and the main track, while playing a bit on the slow side, has been friendly to horses racing on or near the lead. Primary Witness, a Hennessy colt trained by Mark Hennig, took the day’s opener (optional claiming/$25,000 claimers) under Javier Castellano, rallying wide from midpack. to beat favored Kurbat, the pacesetter, by  a half-length. Fractions were :24.02 and :47.57 for the opening quarter and half-mile, 1:12.89 for six furlongs, 1:38.35 for the mile. The final time of 1:44.89 was four seconds off the track record set in 1984 by Deputed Testamony.

The second race, on turf, was won wire to wire by Virsito (by Dynaformer) and Ramon Dominguez. Alan Goldberg trains for Richard Santulli.

Elvis Trujillo took favored Convoy Ahead wire to wire, hugging the rail, to win the third race, an entry-level allowance race. The 3-year-old son of Wildcat Heir (trained by Wesley Ward) set splits of :23.58, :46.63, :58:68 and completed six furlongs in 1:11.62 (track record is 1:09). Castellano scored an early double while leading a starter allowance stakes field all the way in the fourth aboard favored Northpoint Costas. The Maryland-bred by Bowman’s Band trained by Dale Capuano hung up fractions of :23.93, :48.46, 1:13.23, 1:39.65 and the final time for 1 1/16 miles was 1:46.44.

The fifth, an allowance race on turf, was won by Lighthouse Sound, a Michael Trombetta-trained gelding by Langfuhr.

Current odds as of 1 pm below:

3:30 p.m. … Was a little disappointed that I didn’t spot any Hollywood glamour in my tour of the Pimlico grandstand but I did see a "power couple" enjoying the afternoon sun from the finish line box seats: New York Racing Association president and CEO Charlie Hayward and Santa Anita’s top executive, Ron Charles. No telling what these two were discussing when I interrupted their conversation to say hello.

Heavens knows there’s plenty for Hayward and Charles to talk about right now. It could have been the problems NYRA is having getting slot machines at Aqueduct–or at least getting a carryover loan to keep the once-bankrupt organization in business until they do get slot machines. Or it could have been the news that came out late Friday afternoon that Santa Anita’s new parent company MI Developments ("meet the new parent, same as the old parent") told the Oak Tree Racing Association to take a hike, thus jeopardizing the Breeders’ Cup plan to hold the annual championships at Santa Anita during the Oak Tree meeting for five consecutive years, beginning in 2011. Charlie, I’m sure, would have been happy with the news that Frank Stronach lobbed a grenade at Oak Tree and the Breeders’ Cup. Ron, probably not so happy.

Anyways, can’t wait until Stronach explains his plans for a deregulation-free zone next month to the California Horse Racing Board. They should consider selling tickets to that meeting for the entertainment value.

Maybe, just maybe Charlie and Ron were talking about a potential new venture involving several racing associations and the Jockey Club to purchase a tote company and ADW property so they could go into those businesses and compete with TwinSpires, the Churchill Downs-owned ADW that will control roughly half of the account wagering market once its purchase of YouBet is approved.

Nah, I’m sure Charlie and Ron were putting together a pick six ticket or they were just getting their Preak On. — Ray Paulick

4:12 … By now, you’ve heard enough about ‘Getting Your Preak On’ from the estimable Ray Paulick. But you can’t truly get that not-so-fresh feeling without making a pilgrimage to the infield during Preakness day at Pimlico. As your humble correspondent, I’ve done the dirty work and wrestled through the mud to bring you the skinny on what’s going on in this pit of humanity.

That’s probably an overstatement. Okay, it’s way overstated. What I found was actually a nice combination of the old and the new. There were certainly some Grade A drunks out there (some you will see in video form later tonight or tomorrow morning). But there were no fights, no nudity, no beer cans being thrown. After all, when you tie someone’s drinking future to their receptacle, they are far less likely to wind up and watch it fly. (The all you can drink promotion allows the over 21 set to buy a mug for $20 and have it refilled all they want.)

There were professional beach volleyball players, a band playing in the bandstand, cornhole tournaments, video games and a whole lot of beer. No one in the crowd seemed overly concerned about standing in line. It seems that after the first hour, the flow has been consistent but not overwhelming.

While most of the attendees I spoke with preferred the debauchery of a couple years ago, it seems that the Maryland Jockey Club has found the happy medium between the BYOB years and last year’s attendance let down.

To paraphrase Marie Antoinette, let them drink beer. Just don’t concuse them in the process. — Brad Cummings

5:00  p.m. … It’s mostly been a day for chalk players, with six of the first 10 races won by post-time favorites. Races six, seven, eight and nine were all taken by favorites. Comedero (pictured, left) and Robby Albarado won the Grade 3 Chick Lang, a six-furlong sprint formerly run as the Hirsch Jacobs. The Mike Stidham-trained Posse gelding went wire to wire, winning by 3 3/4 lengths in 1:10.16 after fractions of :23.51, :46.00 and :57.76. Beau Choix held off a fast-closing Manhattan Fox in the seventh, the James W. Murphy at a mile on turf. It was win No. 3 on the day for Javier Castellano. Barclay Tagg trains the Elusive Quality colt, owned by Belle Meadows Farm and Lael Stable.

Blame and Garrett Gomez teamed up to win the Grade 3 William Donald Schaefer over longshot No Advantage. The victory was the third consecutive in a graded stakes for the Arch colt trained by Al Stall and owned by Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider. Blame covered the distance in 1:43.40.

Rainbow View kept the chalk parade going when she won the ninth race, the Gallorette Handicap, for the longtime partnership of trainer Jonathan Sheppard and owner-breeder George Strawbridge’s Augustin Stable. The 4-year-old daughter of Dynaformer won the Grade 3 evenf for fillies and mares on turf in 1:41.04 on firm turf under Julien Leparoux.

The favorite’s streak snapped in the 10th race, the Grade 3 Maryland Sprint Handicap, when Taqarub went wire to wire to win at 13-1 odds under Eibar Coa. Javiar Castellano made a bid for his fourth win of the day on Roaring Lion, trying to squeeze through a tight hole on the rail in midstretch but had to steady and lost momentum, losing by a length. Taqarub, racing for Shadwell Stables, is trained by Kiaran McLaughlin.

5:15 p.m. .. Strike a Deal scored a front-running victory in the Grade 2 Dixie under Ramon Dominguez, giving the owner-trainer combo of Richard Santulli and Alan Goldberg a Preakness Day double. The six-year-old son of Smart Strike  was winning for the sixth time in 20 career starts. He had not been out since finishing seventh last July in the U.N. Handicap at Monmouth Park.  Just As Well finished second.

Next race…the Preakness. With an hour to post time, Super Saver is the 9-5 favorite, with Lookin At Lucky second choice at 5-2, Paddo O’Prado third choice at 8-1, followed by Dublin 9-1; Jackson Bend 11-1; Schoolyard Dreams 13-1; Yawanna Twist and Caracortado 15-1 each; Pleasant Prince 22-1; First Dude and Northern Giant 25-1 each; and Aikenite 35-1.

Good luck and safe journeys to all.

Tags: Andy Beyer, beyer speed figures, Bob Baffert, bradford cummings, Get Your Preak On, lookin at lucky, Maryland Jockey Club, Paulick Report, preakness, Ray Paulick, Super Saver, Triple Crown, Washington Post

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 15th, 2010 at 11:37 am and is filed under preakness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.