Preakness Stakes 2008

132nd Preakness Stakes - May 19, 2008

Triple Crown Bet - The Preakness Stakes: The Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown

The highlight of a 26-race stakes spring schedule worth $3.9-million, the 132nd running of the $1 million Preakness Stakes set to take place on May 19 at Pimlico Race Course includes a number of changes. One of those changes, the renaming of the Sir Barton Stakes to the Barbaro stakes, is a fitting tribute to the 2006 Kentucky Derby winner whose racing career and life was cut short following a tragic fall at the 2006 Preakness Stakes.

"In light of what transpired at last year's Preakness, we believed it was fitting to name a stakes on Preakness day for Barbaro," said Maryland Jockey Club President and Chief Operating Officer Lou Raffetto. "It will be a special time when we remember Barbaro for his accomplishments -- not just on the racetrack but what he did for the industry in the months following his injury."

The $500,000 Pimlico Special Handicap (G1) has been taken off the schedule as it was canceled in January due to a purse shortage. The May 18 card previously headlined by the Pimlico Special will feature five stakes races -- the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (G2), the Allaire du Pont Breeders' Cup Distaff (G2), and the Adena Stallions' Miss Preakness Stakes (G3). The Whimsical Stakes has been also been added to the May 18 card.

Other changes to the schedule include the discontinuation of the Jim McKay Breeders' Cup Handicap, the Hoover Stakes was renamed the Jim McKay Sprint and the Baltimore Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint was renamed the Baltimore City Turf Sprint.

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2008 Preakness Stakes Race Details

Location: Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland
Track: 1-3/16th mile track
Date: May 19, 2008
Televised on: NBC Sports, 4:00 p.m. ET

Outlook for the 2006 Preakness Stakes

The field isn't typically as large as the Kentucky Derby (with the "pretenders" weeded out), but the Preakness Stakes brings with it a number of challenges and a tight mix of Derby contenders and local heroes. The Pimlico Race Course is known for its speedy surface and sharp turns, which are almost identical to the turns seen at Churchill Downs.

The 2008 horse racing season's top contenders have their sights set on the Triple Crown, so the winner of the Preakness Stakes is usually found among the top ranks of the Kentucky Derby.

The 2008 Preakness Stakes is a Grade 1 stakes race for three-year-old thoroughbred horses, run at a classic distance of 1 3/16 mile (9.75 furlongs; 1.91 km) on a dirt track. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds (57 kg), while fillies carry 121 (55 kg).

History of the Preakness

What was started back in 1873 by then-Maryland governor Oden Bowie, is now held on the third Saturday in May of each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. The purse for that first race was $15,000, an amount that, at the time, was considered rather handsome indeed.

The Preakness Stakes is the middle jewel of racing's Triple Crown and almost always attracts the Kentucky Derby winner - along with other fleeting thoroughbreds that have either placed or ran in the Derby.

But things didn't always run so smoothly for fans of the Preakness Stakes.

For almost two decades, the Pimlico Race Course and the Preakness Stakes thrived, but hit a few big financial bumps after its 1889 running. In 1890 the Preakness Stakes was moved to Morris Park in New York, and then in 1891 through 1893 it was put on hiatus.

Horse racing fans would have to wait until 1894 to see the return of the Preakness Stakes, but then another 20 years until it would come back home to Baltimore.

From 1894 to 1908 the Preakness Stakes was held at the Gravesend track in Brooklyn, New York. The Preakness Stakes did not return to Pimlico until 1909 - where it has remained.

With a total purse of US$1,000,000, the annual Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course is a rare jewel whose real worth is priceless. As poet Ogden Nash wrote: "The Derby is a race of aristocratic sleekness, for horses of birth to prove their worth to run in the Preakness."

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Preakness Stakes Winners, 1873-2006

The Preakness Trophy

The original Woodlawn Vase, the trophy awarded to the winner of the Preakness Stakes trophy (but not meant to be kept), measures 34 inches in height and weighs 29 pounds, 12 ounces, was created by Tiffany and Company in 1860 for R. Aitcheson Alexander and remains in the Baltimore Museum of Art. A half-sized reproduction of the Woodlawn Vase is now awarded to the owner of the Preakness winner on a permanent basis.

Rumor has it that the Woodlawn Vase spent the Civil War years buried to avoid being stolen or used for its valuable metal properties by Union and Confederate soldiers.

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