143rd Preakness Stakes

Post positions were drawn today for the second leg of the Triple Crown. Kentucky Derby winner Justify drew the number 7 gate, the same as he won the Derby from. But this time, he'll have only seven challengers instead of 19, and at a shorter distance, a mile and a sixteenth. Three Derby starters, Lone Sailor (8th), Bravazo (6th) and Good Magic (2nd), will give it another go. It's wet in Baltimore, and it's supposed to be rainy on Saturday.
But it can't be any worse than it was in Louisville, and the favorite did just fine. Post position is pretty much a non factor with eight horses at this distance. The official oddsmaker has Justify at 1-2, followed by Good Magic at 3-1. Sometimes a fresh horse can spring an upset here, that could be 12-1 third favorite Quip, the Arkansas Derby runner up. But this is Justify's race to lose. There's no reason to think he will.
Post time on NBC is 6:20 p.m. Saturday.

 

Feels like the story pops up every year, but if you read the tea leaves it seems the Preakness may not be for long at Pimlico. Would it move to Laurel? Maybe. Move out of state? Maybe.

I personally struggle with following a local centuries-old tradition that is also, in my opinion, a wildly immoral sport.

 

It does seem to pop up frequently, perhaps not every year, but almost. I've never been, but the issue always seems to be Pimlico: the location, the physical condition of the plant and the financial viability, amongst other reasons cited. Frank Stronach owns both tracks. He's the Austro-Canadian who got rich as founder of Magna International, an auto parts (sound familiar?) company. He also owns several other high profile tracks like Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita Park. He's a bit of a maverick among the thoroughbred community, and isn't afraid to throw his weight, and his money, around to get what he wants. He's owned 71% of Pimlico since 2007. He's got deep pockets, but even he punts losers after too long in the red. Don't know what he's done or not done in Baltimore, but he tore down the clubhouse and grandstand at Gulfstream a number of years ago and rebuilt it from scratch. Fortunately he displays no interest in soccer clubs.
I'm curious about your moral objection to thoroughbred racing. Is it the gambling aspect, or the treatment of the animals, or both? It is centuries old, but it's not really a "local" tradition. The sport is at least as old as the Greco-Roman period, if not sooner. The Kentucky Derby was modeled after the Epsom Derby, which began in 1780.

 

Justify wins again, setting up another Triple Crown possibility. NBC and the New York Racing Association are thrilled.

 

It's never happened, the best I can tell. The first two to win both, Burgoo King in 1932 and Bold Venture in '36 didn't run in the Belmont due to lameness. All of the remaining 33 winners of the first two legs of the Triple Crown contested the Belmont. Only 12 won it. In 1985, Kentucky Derby winner Spend A Buck's owner, Dennis Diaz, decided to go for a bigger payday by contesting the Jersey Derby instead of the Preakness. Newly reopened Garden State Park's owner, Robert Brennan, had put up a $2 million bonus for winning two Derby prep races there, the Cherry Hill Mile and the Garden State Stakes, plus the Derby, plus the Jersey Derby. Spend A Buck had won the first three, then won the Jersey Derby and the extra $2 mil. There was no bonus for winning the Triple Crown, but this scenario resulted in the formation of Triple Crown Productions, the first joint venture of the three race sponsor entities. In 1987 they, ABC Sports and Chrysler offered a $5 million bonus to a Triple Crown winner, $1 million to the horse with the best overall record in all three. The latter went away in 1995 when Visa replaced Chrysler as the money, then the bonus went away completely in 2006. NYRA felt they weren't getting enough of the TV rights money since a prospective Triple Crown winner resulted in an almost 50% viewership increase. From '06 to '10, the Belmont was on ABC while the first two legs stayed on NBC. In 2011 ABC/ESPN gave up the Belmont rights, and all three races have been on NBC since. The current deals run through 2025 for the Derby, 2022 for the Preakness and 2020 for the Belmont. But still no bonus for winning the Triple Crown.
All that to say that there doesn't appear to be any year in which the winner of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes haven't also contested the Belmont Stakes, if healthy.
All that to say that Justify will go to New York in three weeks to attempt to become number 13. He's already back here at Churchill Downs to train up to the week of the Belmont.

https://www.courier-journal.com/sto...epare-belmont-and-triple-crown-run/626917002/