Hi Ho Pimlico

Get your Preak off!

Before we get started with Preakness fever, this new ad/marketing/promotion campaign trying to show the youth of America how hip Pimlico/Maryland Racing/Frank Stronach's bankrupt tracks are is laughable. What can you people be thinking? Don't answer that! It won't work. Let people bring their own coolers into the infield and they will come. If you choose not to go back to that route, so be it (it's probably safer, anyway). But don't lure them with hipster talk. It's insulting.

Now, on to the Preakness: Here's a rundown of potential Preakness runners who will be out to beat Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver and thwart a Triple Crown try in the Belmont Stakes on June 5.

From the Derby, winning trainer Todd Pletcher says he hasn't ruled out Mission Impazible. Huh? He'd really risk having Super Saver get beat by his own stablemate? Too much celebrating Saturday night, Todd.
Then again, he said he's likely to send Aikenite to the Preakness. Gotta wonder if that's gonna happen.

Other Derby runners who might show up in the Preakness are Paddy O' Prado, Dublin and Jackson Bend. Remote but still possible are Ice Box and Lookin At Lucky.

Potential new shooters, according to Pimlico's top PR man Mike Gathagan, include A Little Warm (second, Louisiana Derby); Bushwhacked (second, Lexington Stakes); Caracortado (fourth, Santa Anita Derby); Hurricane Ike (Derby Trial winner), Pleasant Prince (third, Derby Trial); Schoolyard Dreams (fourth, Wood Memorial) and Turf Melody (fourth, Illinois Derby).

By the way, in case you missed it, Calvin Borel already has predicted a Triple Crown for Super Saver. After winning the Derby for third time in four years, clever Calvin said Super Saver is the horse that's gonna do it, sweep the Derby, Preakness and Belmont and become the first to sweep the races since Affirmed in 1978.

Super Saver will not have an easy time winning the Preakness in what could be a full field of 14. Stay tuned.

Ticket to Ride (Beatles, 1965)

A huge day for Kentucky Derby preps, but lots to catch up on regarding Rachel vs. Zenyatta. As expected, Rachel Alexandra was voted Horse of the Year and the final balloting wasn't close. Yes, Zenyatta was awesome in the BC Classic, but Rachel was awesome just about ALL YEAR!


Now, the two great ladies of racing are being given a ticket to ride into history if they do meet on April 9 at Oaklawn Park in what is being billed as a ``Race for the Ages''.


Both are on the same training schedule, turning in workouts on Thursday _ Rachel in Nawlins' and Zenyatta in California. Both are set for their first starts of 2010 on March 13 _ Rachel at Fair Grounds and Zenyatta at Santa Anita.


Both will then be pointed to Charles Cella's track in Hot Springs after the owner offered to raising the purse of the $500,000 Apple Blossom to $5 million.


After a day of wrangling, in which Rachel's owner Jess Jackson put trainer Steve Asmussen up to making comment that Rachel wouldn't be ready for the race, Cella changed the date and all is fine. Zenyatta's owner Jerry Moss was stunned at first _ not that Jackson said he wasn't sending his filly _ but that he was countering with a 3-race series between the two. ``What the hell is he talking about,'' Moss told me when I informed him of Jackson's proposal the night it happened.


But enough, the race is one for now. I am not sure it will happen, but I hope it does: There are still many days to go before these superstars show up for the race, and all must go perfectly in both camps for the race everyone is asking for actually happens.


Wouldn't it be something if one or both lost on the 13th _ after all, Rachel hasn't run since the Woodward in early September and Zenyatta hasn't run since the Classic in early November. Let's hope it doesn't happen and them we'll have one of the most anticipated races _ other than the Kentucky Derby or a Triple Crown attempt _ in many, many moons.



And then it's on the Kentucky Derby on May 1: Heading into today's Derby preps, here's my Top 10:

1. Lookin At Lucky

2. Buddy's Saint

3. Jackson Bend

4. Rule

5. Eskendereya

6. Dave in Dixie

7. Conveyance

8. Dublin

9. Super Saver

10. Radiohead

Hey Calvin, Why didn't you give us the Derby winner?

You gotta hand it to these jockeys, boy, they just know exactly what's going to happen, don't they? Hey wait a minute! If they know who's gonna win before they run the race, doesn't that means something's wrong? Let's face it, if the jockey says he's going to win and wins, wouldn't you think something's fishy? I am not saying I would, but others might. Who those others are I cannot say, but I am not one of them. That leads me to Calvin Borel. He's 1-for-1 on giving out winners of Triple Crown races: Correct Calvin gave everyone a head's up that he was gonna win the Preakness aboard Rachel Alexandra _ and that was why he was getting off Mine That Bird, the horse he won the Kentucky Derby on just two weeks prior to the Preakness So he's 1-for-1 and now he's looking at 2-for-2. For whatever reason, lovable Calvin had this to say to reporters after jumping off Mine That Bird (oh, did I mention he's back on Mine That Bird for the Belmont because Rachel Alexandra isn't running in it?) following a final workout Monday morning at Churchill Downs: ``We're going to win it, no questions asked." OK, so let's bet on Calvin again. If you believed him before the Preakness and bet $2 on the filly to win, you collected $5.60 -- that's $3.60 profit. Do the math for a $100 win bet (it's $280, for a profit of $180); and so forth ... And if you didn't believe Calvin and bet a $2 exacta box on the Derby winner and the filly), the payoff was $19.60 (for a $4 investment); again do the math. I'm not good at math. Works out pretty good for a can't miss bet, don't you think? OK. Mine That Bird will be the heavy favorite to win the Belmont, and won't pay too much when (if - lol) he does win, but having a winner is better than not having a winner. But Calvin, where were you before the Derby, damn it? Why didn't you tell us you were sitting on one of the greatest winning runs in Derby history, one that returned a mind-numbing $103.20 on a $2 win ticket (do your own math, it makes me sick even thinking about it). Place was worth $54 and show $25.80, and a $2 exacta, with one of the favorites Pioneerof the Nile finishing second, paid $2,074. (In the photo up above, Calvin's probably telling Mine That Bird trainer Chip Woolley after the Derby, `Aren't you glad I didn't open my mouth?')