Betty's Critters - & History Views

 On a muddy track at Pimlico, the 149th running of the Preakness Stakes was won by Seize the Grey - a colt sired by Arrogate, who has 2,750 owners.  The gray/roan colt is trained by D. Wayne Lukas (aged 88), who won the Preakness for the seventh time in his career - he has won 15 Triple Crown races so far.  It was the first graded stakes win for jockey Jaime Torres, a 25-year-old native of Puerto Rico.    Seize the Grey, out of Smart Shopping, is owned by My Racehorse, a micro-share partnership, with 2,750 owners, who purchased 5,000 shares of the colt for $127 per share.  He won $1,200,000 today for his owners.    Seize the Grey took the lead when the starting gate opened, and never looked back.  Imagination, the Bob Baffert trained colt, shadowed him for the first half-mile, then slowly faded.  Seize the Grey won by 2 and 1/4 lengths, followed by the Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan, who was a head in front of Catching Freedom, who led...

 John R. Velazquez and Bob Baffert teamed up with National Treasure to win the 2023 Preakness Stakes.  John has won almost every Grade 1 race in the United States, but this was his first Preakness win, on his 13th mount in the race.      Bob Baffert had just returned to Pimlico this week, after staying in California for a couple of years, and had to witness his star colt, Havnameltdown, in the Chick Lang Stakes (the 6th race on today's program) stumble, fall, and be euthanized on the track.  It was a terrible occurrence.  Jockey Luis Saez was galloped over by the following horse, and was taken to the hospital.  Saez is OK, and will ride tomorrow.    National Treasure, the bay son of Quality Road and Treasure, took control out of the gate, and led all the way, though he had to fight off Blazing Sevens in the stretch and won only by the margin of a head.  Once he got the lead, he slowed down, so that the majority of the other ent...

 On Saturday, 20 May 2023, the 148th running of the Preakness Stakes will take place at Pimlico Race Course on the outskirts of Baltimore, Maryland.  The scheduled post time is 6:50 p.m. EDT  (4:50 MDT), with eight 3-year-old Thoroughbred males racing 1 and 3/16 miles (9.5 furlongs) on the main track of the racecourse known as "Old Hilltop."  The young horses will each carry 126 pounds in the race with a purse of $1.5 million to be awarded.    Mage won the Kentucky Derby on 6 May.  He is the only horse that ran in the Derby that is racing in the Preakness.  The field of eight contains 2 geldings; Chase the Chaos is Pennsylvania bred and Maryland bred Coffeewithchris.  The other six colt are all Kentucky bred.  Six of the horses are bay; Mage and Red Route One are chestnuts.  There are 6 stallions represented by the 8 runners, with Good Magic the sire of three.  There are eight different trainers for this race. Mage, winner of t...

 Five years ago, trainer Chad Brown brought owner Seth Klarman's colt, Cloud Computing, to the Preakness and won it.  Today, Chad Brown and Seth Klarman did it again - with Early Voting - on Klarman's birthday.  Early Voting, a bay son of Gun Runner, shadowed the leaders of the Preakness today, then took the lead on the turn for home and never looked back.  He became a little leg-weary at the end of the stretch and drifted a bit, but not enough to impede second-place finisher Epicenter.  This was the first Preakness win for Early Voting's jockey, Jose Ortiz, and he was in tears at the end of the race.    Early Voting finished 1 1/4 lengths ahead of Epicenter, the betting favorite, and took home a paycheck of $990,000.  Epicenter, 2 1/4 lengths ahead of Creative Minister, got paid $330,000.  Creative Minister was 2 3/4 lengths ahead of the filly Secret Oath, and had a pay day of $181,500.  Secret Oath took home $99,000, and fifth-place fi...

 Saturday afternoon, the 147th running of the Preakness Stakes will take place at Pimlico Race Course - the second leg of the Triple Crown.  Rich Strike, the chestnut colt who won the Kentucky Derby, will not be racing, so there will be no Triple Crown winner this year.  Ritchie's trainer has been racing him every 5 to 6 weeks, and the colt has been a huge success with that length of time between races, so he'll be set up perfectly for the Belmont Stakes in June.  Un Ojo, who was considered a strong contender for the Derby, had canceled his appearance in the Derby due to a bruised foot, which is a recurring problem.  He again has a bruised foot and will not contest the Preakness, either.    There are only 9 entries in the Preakness on 21 May this year.  The listed purse is $1.5 million, the Gate time is 7:01 EDT (or 5:01 MDT), and the distance is 1 3/16 miles (9.5 furlongs).  Three colts who ran in the Derby will run in the Preakness: Epicent...