5/18 (PIM): B/E Susan (G2), PIM Special (G3), 5 undercard stakes
 

6th (2:34) Skipat S.

6 Furlongs | Fillies and Mares | 3 Year Olds And Up Stakes | Purse: $100,000

1 Romantic Cuvee Camacho E 118 LA
2 Red's Round Table Russell S 118 LA
3 Valiant Passion Velazquez J R 118 L
4 Bold Affair Castellano A Jr 120 LA
5 Afleet Lass Napravnik R 118 LA
6 Promise Me a Cat Castellano J J 118 L
7 It's Me Mom Martinez W 124 LA



8th (3:39) Miss Preakness S.

6 Furlongs | Fillies | 3 Year Olds Stakes | Purse: $100,000

1 Colonial Empress Nakatani C S 116 L
2 Painted Woman Leparoux J R 116 LA
3 Ageless Garcia Luis 116 L
4 Millionreasonswhy Velazquez J R 122 LA
5 Say a Novena Trujillo E 122 L
6 Gypsy Robin Garcia J A 122 L
7 Agave Kiss Dominguez R A 122 LA
8 Singlet Castellano J J 122 LA
9 Defy Gravity Napravnik R 122 LA



9th (4:14) Jim McKay Turf Sprint S.

5 Furlongs (Turf) | Open | 3 Year Olds And Up Stakes | Purse: $100,000

1 Birdie Beats Par Bisono J 118 L
2 Zeb Napravnik R 118 LA
3 Regal Revenge Dominguez R A 118 L
4 Cactus Son Rocco J S Jr 118 L
5 Awakino Cat Castro E 118 LA
6 Steady Warrior Castro E 118 LA
7 Super Chunky Franklin M 118 LA
8 Ricky's Lite Bisono J 118 LA
9 Disco Dandy Karamanos H A 118 L
10 Ju Jitsu Jax Carmouche K 118 LA
11 Ben's Cat Russell S 120 LA
12 Fiddlers Patriot Velazquez J R 118 LA



10th (4:46) Black-Eyed Susan S. (G2)

1 1/8 Miles | Fillies | 3 Year Olds Stakes | Purse: $300,000

1 Glinda the Good Nakatani C S 122 LA
2 Disposablepleasure Castellano J J 122 L
3 Welcome Guest Dominguez R A 116 L
4 Mamma Kimbo Smith M E 122 L
5 Oaks Lily Leparoux J R 116 LA
6 Plum Castellano A Jr 116 LA
7 In Lingerie Velazquez J R 122 LA
8 Wildcat's Smile Napravnik R 116 L
9 Zucchini Flower Russell S 122 LA



11th (5:20) Very One S.

5 Furlongs (Turf) | Fillies and Mares | 3 Year Olds And Up Stakes | Purse: $100,000

1 Sensible Lady Perez X 114 LA
2 You Need Me Perez X 118 LA
3 Colony Club Boyce F 118 L
4 Weeper Chaves M 118 LA
5 High Quality Castellano J J 118 LA
6 Inspired Velazquez J R 120 LA
7 Jazzy Idea Dominguez R A 118 L
8 Halo Hollie Santiago Javier 118 LA
9 Well Deserved Leparoux J R 118 LA
10 Miss Oil Castellano A Jr 118 LA
11 Bounding Bi Elliott S 118 LA



12th (5:51) Pimlico Special S. (G3)

1 3/16 Miles | Open | 3 Year Olds And Up Stakes | Purse: $300,000

1 Toby's Corner Castro E 118 LA
2 Endorsement Garcia M 124
3 Cease Napravnik R 124 L
4 Hymn Book Velazquez J R 124 L
5 Cherokee Artist Santiago V 118 LA
6 Nehro Nakatani C S 118 LA
7 Mission Impazible Castellano J J 118 L
8 Yawanna Twist Luzzi M J 118 L
9 Alternation Quinonez L S 124 L
10 Eighttofasttocatch Russell S 124 LA



13th (6:20) Hilltop S.

1 1/16 Miles (Turf) | Fillies | 3 Year Olds Stakes | Purse: $100,000

1 Anakindalika (GB) Joyce J 116 LA
2 Seanchai Carmouche K 116 Blk-Off LA
3 Coup Velazquez J R 116 L
4 Theatricality Russell S 116 LA
5 Proud Pearl Russell S 116 LA
6 Nuffsaid Nuffsaid Dominguez R A 116 LA
7 Ainsley Piermarini T 116 L
8 Ok Listen Up Dunkelberger T L 116 LA
9 Appealing Cat Velazquez J R 116 L
10 Anna Sophia Smith M E 116 LA

The revived Pimlico Special drew an ok field relatively speaking..

I agree. Excellent race.

revived in name only.

What is your point? I'm honestly curious. This is an excellent betting race and Pimlico should be applauded for addressing the weakness of last year's Preakness weekend Stakes. But not you. You have to make a snide comment. To what end?

Is it even worth replying? Anyone who has a problem with that field spends far more time on message boards b.itching about racing than betting and caring about racing.

This is a much better card than the one Churchill produced two weeks prior.

Paul

That wasn't the point. This is the old William Donald Schaefer stake.

Pimlico Special has only been contested in one of last five years. Only way this race received its Grade 3 status is renaming another race. Yes, it is nice betting race. But, it is not Grade 1 version won by likes of Cigar, Skip Away, and Invasor in past years.

Nice card. Will like to see how Agave Kiss does in the Miss Preakness.

Pimlico Special is a good betting race. Will be keeping an eye on Endorsement.....

I hope you're right (I haven't looked at it too in depth). Eventhough I got killed on the Derby undercard, I thought those fields on paper were pretty damn good.

Unless Ward's horse breaks super clean, Agave Kiss is gonna be free and clear up front by daylight....

I think Cease is sitting on a big effort coming into the Pimlico Special.

Well, it is a furlong longer.

Any chance they can squeeze the Pimlico Special (I guess formerly known as the shorter distanced Schaefer) to a G2 for next year and bring back the Schaefer as a G3? I'd hate to just swap one out to get the other back so I'm gonna hope the horses in the field do well the rest of 2012--assuming that's what Pimlico even wants since the higher the grading, the higher the required minimum purse. You'd think they'd want it back in all it's G1 glory if they can afford it.

I've got fond memories of the Special from Strike the Gold who won it the first time I saw it on tv. He was the first horse I ever picked to win the Derby. I was a fan of all sports equine before so why I didn't watch the Derby prior to that, no idea. Of course, who can forget the initial Pimlico Special as the match up between Seabiscuit and the "18 hand" *ehem* War Admiral.

Who cares? It could be called the Steve Byk Handicap for all I care. It has a larger purse and new distance a la the Pimlico Special. Oh, and most importantly, it's a really good race.

Do they really need to run the Schaefer if they can maintain the Pimlico Special's purse? Seems like it would be kind of crowded given the woes of the track and the sparseness of the older horse division.

They used to run the Pimlico Special a week before the Preakness. Ideally, it would be a stand alone event that helps kick off Preakness week, not some undercard race. As a means of promoting its popularity, it would be cool to have some sort of bonus attached to competing in both the Preakness and the Pimlico Special in consecutive years. Many Preakness alumni have done so previous (Alysheba, Bet Twice, Cryptoclearance, Summer Squall, Unbridled, Strike The Gold, Real Quiet, Concern, Free House, Best Pal, Midway Road, Skip Away, Eddington, Tejano Run, Star Standard, Brian's Time).

i agree with several others, the pimlico special looks like a good race.

and to heck with the WDS-that guy was a douche. still remember when he referenced the 'sh**house eastern shore'.

I like how they honored William Donald Schaefer's 2011 death by renaming his race. First sir Barton, now William Donald Schaefer. You are on notice, Barbara Fritchie and George "General George" Washington.

You forgot the paving over of Hirsch Jacobs in favor Chick Lang.

Will Saturdays card be out today? I can't play at all Friday, want to get a start on Saturday.

Totally forgot Hirsch Jacobs! I'm shocked the Gallorette and the Very One haven't been renamed the Precious Kitten and the Gilded Gold, respectively. Surely that is to happen the next time MJC either runs into more financial trouble or someone remotely related to Maryland racing passes (not to dismiss the fine work Chick Lang did in Maryland in his day).

I know they are not drawing the Preakness till 6:00 Wednesday, not sure about the rest of the card.

Full card not available until Wednesday night............Preakness draw at 6:00PM Eastern.

I've narrowed it down to these two...

Even though I'm a big fan of Mission Impazible I think I'm going with Yawanna Twist here.

Sorry if it's in bad taste to think that Alternation doesn't win but hey... I don't think Frankel wins this weekend either (Excelebration :tro: ). Bad weekend for the second coming types... I think so anyway.

Good luck, come home safe, blah blah blah.

I loved and bet Yawanna Twist in his last start, would love to play him again but I thought he looked a little spent at the finish of that race. I don't think this distance will help him. Maybe me getting off him for this will help you ;)

:D

I apprecaite that am am sure it could work both ways so have fun collecting the winnings from Mission Impazible... :p

I admit I bet her, but was that not a brutal trip for Disposablepleasure? Castellano had to grab her going into the first turn and then the stretch run wasn't exactly smooth for her.

Hard to call it a terrible trip really. She steadied slightly going into the first turn but had a good trip after and was lugging in in the stretch. If she wasnt lugging in she would have been able to go through the hole at the top of the stretch before Bafferts horse angled to the rail.

Thought Endorsement had a shot until the last 100 yards. Dangit.

Have a sneaky feeling that Alternation might end up in the convo for horse of the year come the end of the season.

Here's my column for the Preakness if anyone is interested.

http://www.goerie.com/article/201205...r-in-Preakness

My selections:

1st: Bodemeister
2nd: Daddy Knows Best
3rd: I'll Have Another
4th: Creative Cause

Enjoyed the article. I like how you weaved anecdotes into the article and placed the 2012 Derby in an historical context. Very well done.

Thanks.

Easy Goer and Sunday Silence are unquestionably two of the top ten horses to race during my entire lifetime.

I still remember the opening segment to the 1989 Belmont Stakes narrated by Jim McKay. It went something sort of like this ...

Sunday Silence really did have that magical 'beat the odds' element to him.

I'll Have Another certainly does to -- albeit to a less dramatic extent. He's never been the favorite in a race -- he also sold cheaply twice at auction (Sunday Silence RNA'd at a 2yo sale when his bidding price failed to reach 50K)

Bodemeister is an extremely exciting horse ... especially for a 3-year-old finding form at the right time.

I don't think I'll ever see a horse again who is Easy Goer type exciting. He was like the perfect horse from his breeding, to his performances and figures, to his visual qualities and the way he would finish through the stretch. I believe he ran the 3rd worst speed figure of his entire life in the Kentucky Derby -- and still finished 2nd.

If you draw a line through his career debut, and his two races over a muddy Churchill Downs track, he always fired incredibly sensational races and was such a great performer. He swept the three races at age 3 that Secreatariat failed to win -- Wood Memorial, Whitney Handicap, and Woodward -- he shaved a full second off of Big Red's Gotham Stakes record time, he ran the 2nd fastest Belmont in history behind only Big Red, and he also won the Travers in sensational time. Sunday Silence was the only horse to beat him in a very tough 3yo campaign that saw him dance every dance.

If Bodemeister doesn't win ... I hope he at least runs his race and I'll Have Another finds something that I really don't think he has to beat him. He wouldn't be the first Derby winner to jump up and pop an unexpected great performance in the Preakness ... Smarty Jones, Funny Cide, and Charismatic all did recently. I even think War Emblem's Preakness win was a better performance than his Derby win.

Anyway -- if Bodemeister fires and doesn't crush this field as I expect -- it would be nice to see this budding rivalry countinue all season. Even if they don't deserve to be compared with Easy Goer and Sunday Silence ... Bodemeister has ton of raw talent, excitement, and great pedigree like EG did. And I'll Have Another has that underdog angle like SS always did.

Sunday Silence, of course, wasn't the favorite in the San Felipe. Wasn't the favorite in the SA Derby. Wasn't the favorite in the Ky Derby. Wasn't the favorite in the Preakness. Wasn't the favorite in the Breeders Cup Classic ... and he won them all.

If I remember that segment correctly, the music accompanying the Preakness highlights was from U2's Where The Streets Have No Name.

The connections of Sunday Silence and Easy Goer offered interesting contrasts. You had the Hancock's black sheep and the cool Bald Eagle pitted against Eastern racing royalty and the fiery southerner McGaughey. There was also a bit of bad blood between Arthur Hancock and Ogden Phipps stretching back to when Seth Hancock was chosen to take over the reins of Claiborne. Hancock said in an interview after the Derby that his dream was to run Claiborne and Phipps' dream was to win the Derby, so Phipps had killed his dream and he had killed the Phipps's dream.

I have a soft sport for fleet routers like Bodemeister who head to the front and dare you to catch them. It will be interesting to see the cat-and-mouse game tomorrow between Guiterrez and Rosario as to who will engage Bodemeister first.

Yep. I'm pretty sure you're right.


If any of them are going to try and apply any real pressure to Bodemeister -- I wish I knew ahead of time so I could confidently pitch them from atleast the exacta.

I basically got exactly what I had "hoped" for.

And now I'm close to about two thousand dollars lighter because of it.

Even after betting Bode to win and Bode over IHA, DNB, and CC in exotics on my accounts, I came back and fired in another $800 win bet on Bode at the track today.



I got to see a great race and looked live for a nice score on the turn ... but I'm taking the tail and putting it between my legs and not going to be around to post for a day or two.

Basically, blessing you guys with my absence as I catch up on some figure and handicapping stuff I've got behind on.

If you don't take the attitude 'I was wrong, but I'll bounce right back' you can really go on tilt...especially after losing on such a short price in such a close race. Not letting things snowball when you get humbled by the game is really as important as anything else -- at least for me.

A big ego and high emotion are a tremendous edge -- until a tough result or bad break inevitably comes along to tilt your handicapping and betting if you let it.

Even with the track the way it was -- where they humanly made sure not to giftwrap anything for Bodemeister -- I still didn't believe he could possibly lose without anything short of I'll Have Another not taking the bait to engage him -- and pulling a Smarty Jones and Funny Cide type Preakness improve.

Great horse race. It took the gleam out of my eye for a few hours here, but it was a good one.