Tag Archives: horse racing

Preakness Stakes Tomorrow

The 139th Preakness Stakes will take place this Saturday, May 17, at Pimlico in Baltimore! The race coverage starts at 4:30 pm EST on NBC.

Will California Chrome be able to win this race as well and stay in the running for a Triple Crown? Only two other horses from the Kentucky Derby will be racing Saturday, so California Chrome will have an almost completely new field of horses to compete with. There are only 10 horses in the race, so it can be a toss up.

California Chrome at Pimlico
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(Patrick Semansky/AP)

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(Garry Jones/AP)

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(Garry Jones/AP)

Of the new competition, Social Inclusion has the greatest chance to win against California Chrome.
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(Garry Jones/AP)

Social Inclusion shares a similar story with California Chrome, the owners of both turned down million dollar offers so they could maintain ownership of their animals and keep them with older veteran trainers. With only three career starts, Social Inclusion has garnered much attention winning his first two races by a combined 17 and 1/2 lengths and just missing out on qualifying for a spot in the Kentucky Derby by placing third at the Wood Memorial. Social Inclusion is fast and strong, with thoughts that he might be a better racer overall than the heavy favorite.

Who will win? Watch tomorrow to find out!

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Preakness Winner!

The Preakness Stakes took place earlier today at Pimlico Race Course, and the performance was almost the same as the Kentucky Derby. I’ll Have Another came from behind and won by a head, just in front of Bodemeister.

(photo Mike Stewart/AP)

With wins at the Derby and Preakness, I’ll Have Another has a real chance of winning the Triple Crown! The final race of the three is the Belmont Stakes – with takes place June 9. The last Triple Crown winner was Affirmed in 1978.

Do you think we will have a Triple Crown winner this year?

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Kentucky Derby 2012

Today is the 138th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs! It is warm today, around 84 degrees, and dispite rain yesterday the track has dried and been rated as fast. Only for three year old horses, these athletes have only one chance in their lives to win this race. These two minutes mean a lot in the horse racing world!

While there are many promising horses the current favorite is Union Rags, who starts in the fourth spot:

(found here)

Union Rags’ owner has a wonderful story – she sold him as a colt and repurchased him for much more than he was original sold for when he went to auction. He has turned out to be a champion so far, will he be able to pull off a big win?

There are a couple others horses that I want to highlight before the race.

Hansen – a beautiful all white horse that is drawing a lot of attention to himself.  A bit of controversy surrounds his owner Dr. Hansen who has used the horse to seemingly bring himself publicity. He wanted to dye part of Hansen’s tail blue for the last race he ran, even with threats to scratch the animal over the issue. The tail was dyed back by the trainer to prevent any problems at the anger of Dr. Hansen – Hansen placed second in that race.  He has done well thus far, can he pull off a win today?

(found here)

Bodemeister – Has a lot of potential to win this race by the very nature of his speed. He won the Arkansas Derby by 9 1/2 lengths. However, he has not been raced that many times (never as a two year old) and new situations could come up that will startle him and impact his performance. Maybe he can pull off such a wonderful win today.

(found here)

Gemologist – So far undefeated, and the only horse in the field to be so, Gemologist has great potential and good odds to take the Derby.

(found here)

Take Charge Indy – He has won in a couple major races but has not gotten much publicity like other derby favorites. However, he will have three time derby winning jockey Calvin Borel – so only time will tell if this combination will take it all today.

(found here)

Creative Cause – Has had good winnings thus far and I think he is a beautiful animal:

Another horse that I like just for the name: Rousing Sermon

(found here)

Creative, and I am not sure that many people would name a horse something like this. So I am interested in seeing how he runs. Also great names: I’ll Have Another and Daddy Long Legs.

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Secretariat

Disney is making a movie called Secretariat, based on the true story of the race horse! Secretariat won the Triple Crown in 1973, or winning the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes. Only 11 horses have ever won that achievement and the last horse to do so was Affirmed in 1978.

The film will open in theaters on October 8th. To read more about the film, check out comingsoon.net.

Here is the trailer:

Actual footage of Secratariat running in the 1973 Kentucky Derby:

A couple shots from the movie:

I am excited to see this movie! I really like true stories made into movies, and I love horses.

I think that this movie is also coming out at a good time to bring a little hope back to the racing world, a reminder that even the most impossible of prospects can turn out for the best. I saw this article the other day: Gamble Sours for Many Kentucky Horse Breeders. The article explains that many horse farms are not doing well and are now up for sale. Money going through horse auctions and races has decreased in the past couple years, so even the best horses are not going for the money they once did nor earning as much by winning or breeding. The Pimlico Race Course, which hosts the Preakness Stakes is going through bankruptcy. The Belmont Stakes is also in jeopardy this year if enough money cannot be raised. Sadly, what happened to the housing market in the US has happened to the racing world – many no money down loans based on the idea the prices and value would always be rising for horses. The article quotes Arnold Kirkpatrick as saying, “We bred too many horses, overborrowed to do it, and are now caught trying to sell them to people who don’t want them.”

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