Preakness

Bruno Mars to Headline Preakness Live

Grammy Award winner Bruno Mars will be among the events highlighting this year's Preakness LIVE, which will follow the 148th edition of the GI Preakness S. at Pimlico May 20. Mars previously performed at the Preakness 11 years ago. Preakness LIVE will feature a full day of live music and entertainment beginning at 10:30 a.m., including performances by Grammy nominated musical duo Sofi Tukker, DJ Chantel Jeffries and Martin 2 Smoove. Preakness LIVE will also feature Baltimore's art scene with the return of the infield art garden featuring unique works...

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Thursday's Racing Insights: McPeek Duo Back in Action at Oaklawn

8th-OP, $106K, OC 50k/N2X, 4yo/up, 1 1/8m, 5:22 p.m. The Ken McPeek-trained duo of 'TDN Rising Star' SMILE HAPPY (Runhappy) and CREATIVE MINISTER (Creative Cause) kick off their 4-year-old seasons at Oaklawn Park Thursday. Smile Happy, winner of the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. at two and runner-up as the favorite in last year's GI Toyota Blue Grass S., makes his first start since finishing eighth in the GI Kentucky Derby. The 2-1 morning-line favorite gets first-time Lasix while facing seven rivals here. Creative Minister, a respectable third in last...

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Early Nominations for 2023 Triple Crown Series Close Saturday

Early nominations for 3-year-old Thoroughbreds to become eligible to compete in the 2023 Triple Crown series are due Saturday with a $600 payment. Payment for early Triple Crown nominations must be made at the time of entry on www.thetriplecrown.com. Information regarding phone or mail-in entries can also be found on the website. Nominations are scheduled to be released to the public on Monday, Feb. 6. The 2023 Triple Crown opens Saturday, May 6 with the 149th running of the $3-million GI Kentucky Derby at 1 1/4 miles at Churchill Downs...

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Preakness Winner Early Voting Retired to Ashford

Klaravich Stables' Classic winner Early Voting (Gun Runner--Amour d'Ete, by Tiznow) has been retired from racing and will stand at Coolmore America's Ashford Stud for 2023, Coolmore announced Wednesday. Out of a half-sister to Speightstown (Gone West), Early Voting made each of his first three starts at Aqueduct, winning a maiden special weight and the GIII Withers S. before finishing second by a neck to eventual GI Belmont S. winner Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) in the GII Wood Memorial S. Despite having the required points for the GI Kentucky Derby,...

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Epicenter Back to Work, Targeting Summer Campaign at Saratoga

Epicenter (Not This Time), a too-good-to-be-second as the favorite in both the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness S., has begun gearing up for a summer campaign at Saratoga. The Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC colorbearer worked four furlongs in an easy :50.60 (31/37) at Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen's Churchill Downs base June 20, just his second move since rallying for runner-up honors in the middle leg of the Triple Crown. "He's like a machine," said David Fiske, longtime advisor to the Winchell family. "He took a few weeks off after...

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Taking Stock: It's High Time for This Stallion

The Classic season is over. A surface reading shows that Arrogate (Unbridled's Song), Keen Ice (Curlin), and Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}) got the GI Kentucky Oaks, GI Kentucky Derby, and GI Preakness S. winners, respectively, from their first crops, and proven star sire Uncle Mo (Indian Charlie), who had a Derby winner from his first crop in 2016, sired the GI Belmont S. winner. Sometimes, however, what's between the lines is as important as what's on the page, and Taylor Made's Not This Time (Giant's Causeway), whose second-crop sons...

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Maryland Horse Foundation Launches Redesigned Website

The Maryland Horse Foundation has unveiled their newly designed website MarylandHorse.com, completed in partnership with the Maryland Horse Industry Board and funded via a Rural Maryland Council grant. It now features a sortable directory of resources and an events calendar as well as fulfilling a double duty of functioning as the home for information about the Maryland Horse Park System. Any news about annual campaigns such as 'October-Maryland Horse Month' or 'Horse Industry Day' will also be posted to the site. Anyone with an event or resource they'd like to...

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Thursday Morning with Kentucky Derby Winner Rich Strike

ELMONT, NY - With regular exercise rider Gabriel Lagunes in the saddle, GI Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike (Keen Ice) circled the shedrow shortly after 8:30 a.m. on a sticky Thursday morning at Belmont Park. Making his way through the picturesque Belmont backstretch about 10 minutes later with a good-sized entourage in tow, Rich Strike entered the paddock via the tunnel as owner Richard Dawson and trainer Eric Reed, both sporting plenty of black-and-red Rich Strike swag, chatted by the famed Secretariat statue. With torrential pre-dawn thunderstorms leaving the main...

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Op/Ed: The Triple Crown Woes…Maybe It's the Purses?

Though not a proponent of "fixing" the Triple Crown by spacing the races further apart, I can't deny that the series has a problem. GI Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike (Keen Ice) passed the GI Preakness S. Preakness winner Early Voting (Gun Runner) won't be running in the GI Belmont S. this Saturday and not a single horse will contest all three Triple Crown races this year. The Triple Crown ends with a race that is good but could be a lot better. Lining up the best horses possible for...

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After Battling Substance Abuse Issues, Belmont Winner Jeremy Rose Launches a Comeback

Back in 2005, when he won the GI Preakness S. and the GI Belmont S. with Afleet Alex (Northern Afleet), Jeremy Rose was convinced that the run he was on would never end. He was just 26, had already won more than 950 races and had won an Eclipse Award in 2001 as the nation's top apprentice. Rose was well established as one of the top riders in the Mid-Atlantic region, was earning in the mid-six figures every year and his best years seemed yet to come. "It may sound...

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Rich Strike Breezes Bullet Five Furlongs

RED-TR Racing's GI Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike (Keen Ice) dazzled fans Monday at Churchill Downs with a five-furlong move in :59 between Races 5-6 in his final major preparation toward the $1.5 million GI Belmont Stakes S. June 11. With rider Gabe Lagunes in the saddle, Rich Strike clipped off eighth-mile fractions of :11.80, :23.20 and :34.80, according to Churchill Downs clocker John Robertson. The 80-1 upset winner of the Derby galloped out six furlongs in 1:12 and completed seven furlongs in 1:26. Trainer Eric Reed watched the work from the...

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Chad Brown Talks Preakness, Triple Crown Spacing On Writers' Room

Already a four-time champion trainer, Chad Brown became a two-time Classic-winning conditioner Saturday at Pimlico when his Early Voting (Gun Runner) scored in the GI Preakness S., five years after Brown took down the Preakness using a similar formula with Cloud Computing (Maclean's Music). Tuesday, Brown sat down with the crew of the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland from his headquarters in Saratoga Springs as the Green Group Guest of the Week to talk about his decision to skip the GI Kentucky Derby with Early Voting paying off, why...

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