Pimlico

GI Kentucky Derby hero Authentic (Into Mischief) was assigned gate nine in a field of 11 and was installed the 9-5 morning-line favorite for Saturday' GI Preakness S. at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. John Velazquez has the return call on Authentic, who goes for a third consecutive victory at the Grade I level, having beaten Ny Traffic (Cross Traffic) in the GI TVG.com Haskell S. before defying those who concluded he would not stay the 10 furlongs of the Derby by outfighting heavily favored Tiz the Law (Constitution) beneath...

Ny Traffic (Cross Traffic) was named likely to make the line-up for Saturday's GI Preakness S. at Pimlico following a four-furlong work in :48 flat (2/88) at Churchill Downs Sunday. "Most likely he's going to go, but tomorrow we'll make the decision," trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. said. "We were very happy with the work." Ny Traffic came up a nose short of Authentic (Into Mischief) when second in the July 18 GI TVG.com Haskell S. Sunday's work was his first since finishing eighth behind that rival in the Sept. 5...

A trio of candidates for the GI Preakness S. at Pimlico Oct. 3 turned in their final serious moves Saturday morning at Churchill Downs. Bruce Lunsford's Art Collector (Bernardini), who was forced to miss the Sept. 5 GI Kentucky Derby owing to a minor foot injury, tuned up for the final leg of this year's reconstituted Triple Crown by drilling a half-mile in :48 flat with big-race rider Brian Hernandez, Jr. in the saddle. The GII Toyota Blue Grass S. and Runhappy Ellis Park Derby hero was caught in fractions...

Jaxon Traveler (c, 2, Munnings--Listen Boy, After Market) shot out to the front and left them all in the dust, romping to a 'TDN Rising Star' performance on debut at Pimlico Friday. The even-money favorite, a $140,000 purchase by West Point Thoroughbreds and Marvin Delfiner after breezing in :10 flat at the postponed OBS April Sale, was working bullets at Steve Asmussen's Belmont base, including a five-furlong move from the gate in :59 3/5 (1/18) Sept. 13. The dark bay raced under pressure early, but appeared to be doing it...

Even as Pimlico Race Course opened Sept. 24 for its two-weekend, GI Preakness S. mini-meet, work was being done at Laurel Park to prepare for a return to a four-day weekly schedule when the Oct. 8-Dec. 31 meet resumes there. "It's all systems go up here at Pimlico. We're trying to get the old mare looking good for NBC, and we're looking forward to a really good event," Sal Sinatra, the president of the Maryland Jockey Club (MJC), which owns both tracks, told Maryland Racing Commission (MRC) members during Thursday's...

William H. Lawrence's Liveyourbeastlife (Ghostzapper), the runner-up in the GII Jim Dandy S. at Saratoga Sept. 5, worked five-eighths in :59.89 (3/9) Thursday over the Belmont Park main track in preparation for the GI Preakness S. Oct. 3. Trainer Jorge Abreu said that the dark bay would be supplemented to the third and final leg of the Triple Crown. "He breezed really well today," Abreu said. "He went in :59 4/5, which is something he's never done before. We're going to take a shot." Liveyourbeastlife, a $200,000 Fasig-Tipton Florida Select...

GI Alabama winner Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) remains possible to contest the GI Preakness S. at Pimlico Oct. 3. "It's going to depend on who shows up," said trainer Ken McPeek. "We are also nominating her to the [GI] Spinster [Oct. 4] and she's been invited to the [GI] QEII [Oct. 10]. We're shopping it, that's all. We have three good choices. My strong preference would have been a 3-year-old filly Grade I [on dirt], but there isn't one out there." Both alternatives to the Preakness, the nine-furlong Spinster for fillies...

For the fourth consecutive year, the Maryland Jockey Club is offering the $100,000 Sentient Jet Trainer Bonus to horsemen that accumulate the most points during stakes races over GI Preakness S. weekend, Oct. 1-3 at Pimlico Race Course. Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen captured the $50,000 prize in both 2017 and 2018 but finished second to Brad Cox in 2019. Led by the 145th running of the Preakness, presented this year as the final jewel in a refashioned Triple Crown and a "Win and You"re In" qualifier for the...

Ny Traffic (Cross Traffic), who exited an eighth-place finish in last Saturday's GI Kentucky Derby with a cut in his left front ankle, remains possible for the GI Preakness S. Oct. 3, according to Saffie Joseph Jr. "We got a couple cuts," said Joseph. "He has a staple in his ankle from a cut he got. It looks like he should be OK. Within seven to 10 days we'll decide. The main thing is the staple and when it gets taken out, how it's going to be." Ny Traffic also...

Officials at Breeders' Cup Limited and The Stronach Group have announced that the Oct. 3 GI Preakness S., the final leg of this year's reconstituted Triple Crown, has been added to the Breeders' Cup Challenge series and will offer the winner an all-expenses-paid berth in the starting gate for the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland Nov. 7. It will mark the first time that a Triple Crown races is part of the series. Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the traditional first leg of the Triple Crown was postponed...

The Maryland Jockey Club has announced that beginning Friday, July 17, jockeys who enter another racetrack's jockey quarters will not be permitted to ride in Maryland unless they self-quarantine for 14 days and obtain a negative COVID-19 test. Jockeys outside the state of Maryland will not be allowed to work or gallop horses at Laurel Park or Pimlico Race Course. Jockeys located in Maryland who work or gallop horses outside the state will not be allowed to ride, gallop or work horses at Laurel or Pimlico unless they self-quarantine for...

The Laurel Park summer race meet is a go, starting Saturday. A 28-date schedule was approved by a unanimous teleconference vote of the Maryland Racing Commission (MRC) at its Thursday meeting. After an initial Saturday-through-Monday, three-date opening spanning May 30-June 1, Fridays and Saturdays will be the primary live racing dates through Aug. 22 (a Monday, June 8, program is also scheduled, according to the Laurel calendar). Alan Rifkin, an attorney for the Maryland Jockey Club (MJC), which owns Laurel, explained to the commission the rationale behind scaling back to...