While the Kentucky Derby is decadent and depraved, the
Preakness was a sloppy play day. The weekend began with the Black Eyed Susan on
Friday, probably one of the most exciting days of racing that is headlined by a
Grade 2 stakes.
My initial plan to attend the Preakness was launched back in
April when my good friends came down to Lexington to see their filly, Ma Can Do
It, contest a maiden special weight. She is owned by Kyle and Glenda Nagel.
Though I’ve known them for just over a year, it feels as though it has been a
lifetime. We met last May during the week of the Kentucky Derby as they are also
good friends with the Romans, and we immediately bonded as they too were living
in Boston at the time. Since then it’s been a whirlwind of fun and incredible
experiences whenever we get together.
Ma finished second in that maiden special weight, a seven
furlong event over the dirt. She’s run quite well in the past, third in the G1
Darley Alcibiades in her two year old season, and she ended her campaign last
year with a fifth behind Songbird in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. She’s
a stunning daughter of Majesticperfection, big and scopey, and we have always
felt that two turns is her ideal. Her two starts this year were not her best
efforts as she got herself really worked up prior to the races, resulting in a
poor showing as the 8-5 favorite after almost flipping in the paddock at
Oaklawn earlier this year, and then in the paddock of the April race at Keeneland
she was covered in sweat by the time they announced riders up. This was such a
reverse from the Ma we know. In the barn, she is the gentlest horse in the
Romans’ stable, and she craves human affection. She never once worked herself
up last year, so her sudden change of character pre-race was disconcerting.
Dale had told Kyle that if they could calm her down and if Ma
continued to train well in the weeks leading up to the Black Eyed Susan that he
would enter her in the race. Luckily, she put in some great efforts in the
mornings and she got the okay to ship to Pimlico, so we all came in to
see her run, and support Go Maggie Go, Cherry Wine, and the rest of the Romans’
runners during the weekend.
Friday morning I woke up at 3:30am, took a quick shower, and
hit the road an hour later to Louisville. My flight was direct to Baltimore out
of Louisville, and I arrived in Baltimore at a little after 8am. Upon arrival, I
scoured the entire airport for a bagel before I found in a distant gate with a
little bagel shop, and I sat and contently munched away, waiting for the Nagels
to land.
Their flight landed at 9:30am and I was greeted by Kyle,
Glenda, and their daughter’s friend Hannah, who coincidentally attended Tufts
while I was there and was friends with one of my close friends, though our
paths never crossed. We hopped in an uber and headed to our hotel, where we met
up with Kyle’s daughter Taylor and her friend Nellie. After changing out of our
plane clothes to race day attire, we were on our way to Pimlico.
I had personally never been to Pimlico before, and I’ve
mainly heard bad things about the facility from most of the people who have
been there. However, each one of those people unanimously would agree that the
Preakness is the most fun jewel of the Triple Crown. I had a great experience
at the small track, though it didn’t necessarily start off that way.
When we entered, I immediately got the throwback vibe that I
get whenever attending my home track of Suffolk Downs. Pimlico is an old place,
full of history, which has not been renovated much. Some people may hate it and
view it as decrepit, but hailing from a similar racetrack, it felt mostly homey
to me.
However, after ascending the escalator to our given seats,
we were a bit concerned. We were sat in the “Triple Crown Room”, but if that
room had anything to do with the Triple Crown, we weren’t aware. It was a long chamber,
a pale, faded pink, with absolutely no windows and TVs that seemingly were
purchased shortly after the invention of the Technicolor television set. Some
of them were not working. The small bar area had a very minute alcohol section,
and the famous Black Eyed Susan drink was in premade pitchers, served in
plastic cups. Generally speaking, I’m just thankful to be at the races and
seating does not aggravate me, but this was the rare exception. The Nagels had
a filly in the feature race and this was where Pimlico had decided to seat them?
We couldn’t even see the track and the immediate outside area was only
accessible if you had boxes!
Luckily for us, Bailey came to find our table and she
brought Kyle up with her to their seats in the Jockey Club room to see if there
was something that they could do. After asking why he had been assigned to the
Triple Crown room with a horse in the feature, the hostess in the Jockey Club
room looked taken aback and said that they had actually had a table reserved
for the Nagels in the Jockey Club room, and were surprised we had not shown up
yet.
We were all eager to relocate to our new digs and very
pleased with them. Past the finish line on the third floor, the Jockey Club
Room was a huge upgrade with an entire wall of windows looking out over the
track. The seating was much better, the bar was much better, and the entire
atmosphere was completely improved. As a few of the people in our party had
never been to the races before, we were relieved that their first experience
would not be tarnished by such a lackluster seating situation.
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| The Marlins Man, myself, Nick and Max |
We took in the races and enjoyed each other’s company
throughout the day. Kyle’s son, brother, and father showed up and the party
really started. Kyle’s father, Lou, is a phenomenal man in his early eighties.
He’s a pleasure to be around and has quite the history behind him. He actually
used to work at the track in the past, including a stint as an exercise rider
until he woefully got too big, and he reminisced about his time at the races
fondly. A very fascinating man to talk to with a passion for life and the
thoroughbred.
One of the most exciting racing events of the day was Ben’s
Cat performance in the Jim McKay Turf Sprint. His fifth victory in the race, fourth
consecutive, the crowd went wild for the ten-year-old gelding as he powered
down the stretch. His trainer, King Leatherbury, is a legend in his own right.
Leatherbury ranks third in all-time victories in the United States. He was a
dominating figure on the Maryland circuit in the 1960s and 1970s, and he is
still relevant today at 83 years old. Last year, he was inducted into the Hall
of Fame after a long and worthy career.
Finally, it was time for the race we had been waiting for,
the Black Eyed Susan. It's important to note that Dale won this race the previous year with Stonestreet Farm's Keen Pauline, who graced the cover of the day's program. This year, Dale had two entrants, Go Maggie Go and Ma Can Do It. I
was excited to see Go Maggie Go contest the race as she put in a phenomenal
effort, running fourth and just missing the jump for second last out in the G1
Kentucky Oaks. That was only her third lifetime start as she had debuted
earlier this year down at Gulfstream and was a dominant maiden victor before
taking the G2 Gulfstream Park Oaks. We had a feeling she would put in a big
effort on Friday, and she did not disappoint.
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| Go Maggie Go and the girls on Oaks Day |
Ma was another story. Sent off at odds of 50-1, it was
obvious the betting public was not a believer in the big filly. However, we all
were, so I played her across the board with a reasonable amount of confidence
that she would put in a solid effort. We knew we would get a feel for her
performance based off her pre-race antics.
We headed down to the small indoor enclosure that is the
Pimlico paddock, a largely unsafe area to saddle horses in my opinion. Maggie
was in gate five and Ma in gate four, so we gathered side by side. I immediately
knew that Ma was going to run a big one when she was calm, cool and collected
in the paddock, despite the claustrophobic enclosure and the buzz of the crowd.
Petting her on the neck, I knew she had
it in her. Maggie was equally relaxed with Amanda rubbing her face.
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| Go Maggie Go |
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| Ma Can Do It, calm |
While the horses left the paddock, I quickly snatched their
Black Eyed Susan nameplates with their respective gate positions off the stalls
and handed Kyle his filly’s. We followed the horses out toward the track and
escaped up a staircase that led to the box area.
My heart began to pound as the fillies loaded into the gate.
I was so nervous for the two, and so excited, I just could not wait. When the
gates flew open they both got away cleanly. Ma managed an excellent
ground-saving trip up the rail while Maggie set the pace, pressured by Kinsley
Kisses, and pulled away convincingly. Ma powered down the inside to land second in a blanket finish, and we
collectively lost our minds.
There is not much more exciting than finishing 1-2 in a
graded stakes race on a big day of racing, but that is exactly what Dale
accomplished. With giant smiles on our faces and shouts of elation we all
galloped across the track toward the winners’ circle, where a beautiful Maggie
was lead in and draped in a blanket of sunflowers. In just her fourth start she
is a two-time graded stakes winner, and her future looks bright. I have a feeling
the Alabama at 1 ¼ miles, as I have mentioned in the past, is hers for the
taking. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Ma there either.
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| The Nagel family celebrating Ma's big effort |
Equally as happy as we were for Maggie’s victory, we were
for Ma’s strong second place. It’s hard to find a family nicer or more generous
than the Nagels, so sharing in their happiness was easily a highlight of the
weekend. Ma may still be a maiden, but she’s already amassed $192,100 in
earnings. Not bad! Her future is also quite bright, and I’m sure that maiden
victory is on its way. Why even run her in maiden conditions if she is going to
continue running so well in graded company?
The day ended on a high note as we went out to dinner at a
nice Greek restaurant. Exhausted, I decided to hit the hay early as opposed to
go out.
The Preakness was ushered in by a bout of rain that did not
relent for the majority of the day. Luckily for me, I was promised cover. My
friend John Scheinmann had been gracious enough to connect me with a job for
the day, and I was to be working as a handicapper for Pimlico in the Sky
Suites, the luxury suites at the beginning of the first turn.
As I walked into the track, I was unfortunate enough to
stumble upon the death of Homeboykris, the winner of the first race. The
entrance to the suites was on the first turn and Homeboykris had fallen right
there on his way back to the barn. When I arrived he was lying down, and I
watched with a heavy heart as his distraught handlers attempted to get him to
stand up. Their frantic efforts made me swiftly acknowledge that it must have
been a heart attack. He passed relatively quickly in front of me.
As much sadness as I felt for the valiant animal that gave
his life for the victory, I felt a larger sadness for the sport. Racing related
deaths and injuries unjustly find a way to happen when the sport is in the nation’s
eye, and I knew there would be much said about it by the media. It always pains
me to think that people will perceive our sport not off of the beauty and
excitement that it harbors, but off the much less frequent pain and grief that
it may present. There is a clear misunderstanding between the general public
and the racing world that unfortunately the media does an awful job of
addressing. Collectively as a sport we do not do enough to establish the truth-
that for every bad event that occurs in racing, there are a thousand more that
would bring nothing but joy to the heart. Every sport has its villains-
baseball has steroids, football has head injuries, hockey has its ridiculously
sought-after fighting. Meanwhile, the goodness with which so many of these
animals are treated, the bond between human and horse, and the true nature of
the thoroughbred- the desire from birth to run and race one another in the
fields that translates to the racetrack- all of this gets so easily overlooked
and lost by the general public. As bad as the tragedy of a horse death is, the
greater tragedy is the sheer number of people who perceive the sport as
inherently bad, when it is far from that.
Returning to my experience. I had prepped for the day by
studying the card and arranging a variety of bets to advise my suites on. I was
nervous at first as I did not know exactly what the situation held in store for
me, but I adjusted quickly. There were quite a few suites in the area but I
would focus on the more expensive ones, which were filled with people quite
inexperienced with betting on horse races. I enjoyed teaching them the basics
of how to read a form and what kind of bets to make, and they ate it up. I was
lucky to have very attentive audiences in each of the suites and a core group
of people who continuously sought out and valued my advice and opinions.
Overall, it was a very lovely day.
As the time neared for the big race, I found my way out to
Preakness village in the infield. I had texted the Nagels to see where they were located, and
found that they had made their way into the Stronach Tent. This luxurious tent
was located past the finish line in the infield, and it felt less like a tent
than a lodge in Aspen. Extravagantly decorated, the place was draped in plaid
blankets, mahogany bars, old time racing memorabilia, and an assortment of antlers
and artifacts. It harbored a great atmosphere.
At this point the rain was really coming down, so I lucked
upon a poncho, grabbed a paddock pass, and headed out into the rain. Per
tradition, horses are saddled on the turf course in front of the grandstand for
the Preakness Stakes. The turf was damp and slippery, and by the time I had
arrived the horses were on the course. I made my way over to the designated
spot for the horse in the first gate and found the Cherry Wine squad had
gathered to watch the beautiful gray colt.
Cherry Wine holds a special place in my heart. The first
time I had met him was my very first visit to Lexington, Kentucky, back in
October of 2013. It was just after my summer of interning in the NYRA Press Box
up at Saratoga, where I initially became friends with Bailey. She had invited
me down for a weekend at Keeneland at her farm in Kentucky, and I had so much
fun that weekend that two years later I moved down to Lexington.
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| Cherry Wine on the right and two paddock mates |
The Romans Farm is a nice property that boasts a gorgeous
pond draped in a weeping willow tree, by a huge field with an old cemetery in
it. This was where Cherry Wine and all of the other weanlings were turned out.
At the time, Dale had an abundance of Paddy O’Prado colts and fillies on the
farm and one of the friendliest was the lighter gray colt with the big stripe
down his face. Little did we know at the time that some three years later he’d
be on the Triple Crown trail.
The next time that I came across Cherry Wine was last summer
at Saratoga. He was inconspicuous the entire summer, a calm grey in a stall
labeled “C.S. Royce,” shadowed by the monstrous form of Keen Ice some three
stalls down. Our most memorable experience together was the day after the
Travers Stakes and Keen Ice’s giant-slaying victory over American Pharoah. That
day, Dale was busy with interviews and was not able to make it to the races. He
told me to go as his representative and keep an eye on things as he had a
maiden debuting in a turf race.
As it went, I arrived backside to meet with Ubaldo and
Cherry’s groom, Ernesto. By then I had discovered that C.S. Royce was not
actually C.S. Royce, that was his dam’s name and he had been bestowed the name
of Cherry Wine. The holding barn at Saratoga is directly next to Dale’s barn,
so we made the short trip over to wait for the two-year-olds to get called over
to the paddock. When they did, the three of us trekked over, smiling the whole
way as were still giddy off of Keen Ice’s win the prior day. Cherry Wine was
relatively well behaved for a two-year-old, and after being saddled in the pink
towel for gate eight he received the leg up and Shaun Bridgmohan landed lightly
on his back in the orange silks of Frank Jones. With that, our trio followed
the horse onto the track and ducked out to watch him against the rail of the
clubhouse.
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| Cherry Wine in the paddock at Saratoga before his debut |
There was clearly trouble in the gate as Cherry Wine reared
up twice, and to me it appeared that he may have banged himself up. He was
backed out of the gate and the track veterinarian gave him a brief once-over
and the okay to re-enter, and they were running. Cherry ended up settling quite
wide toward the back of the pack, clearly green throughout and finishing a well
beaten ninth.
From there I got separated from the other two as they went
back onto the track to greet him, but I made it back to the barn at the same
time as they did. I looked in disbelief as Cherry’s head was covered in blood
from a cut he sustained while rearing. His front legs were cut up as well, and
I was actually quite shocked the vet had allowed him to run. That was my last experience
with him of the year.
Fast forwarding to the future, Cherry Wine had physically
grown quite a lot as he stalked about in the paddock for the Preakness, the
rain making his grey darker than its true color. After Corey Lanerie got the
mount up and headed to the track, the Romans decided to stay on the turf course
to watch the race as opposed to contend the bridge to the grandstand across the
slop. This ended up being a great vantage point and we were not alone. I stood
by my friend Amanda, who hotwalks Cherry Wine when she is in town and had
offsided him for the race.
Heading into the Preakness, I was quite confident that
Nyquist would win. He’s just so much better than the rest of the crop, and his
running style is incredibly versatile so I knew he wouldn’t get caught up in a
speed duel. Clearly, I was mistaken. Luckily I had also advised everyone and
their mother in the suites to play Cherry Wine as the longshot pick, so that
worked out.
Anticipation mounted as they headed into the gate and I
could feel my heart beating out of my chest. When they broke, I stood by the
rail to watch them head by the first time and observed Cherry Wine sitting far
toward the back with the other grey, Lani. From there I changed my view to the
giant television in the infield and my jaw about dropped when I saw Nyquist
gunning between two cheap speed horses in a ridiculous :22.38 opening fraction.
It only got worse as they went the half in :46.56, with my heart sinking. Why
in the world would a jockey send such a versatile horse on a suicide mission
against two horses who did not stand a chance?
Meanwhile, I couldn’t even locate Cherry Wine because he had
dropped so far out of it as to not be in the picture. I knew he broke his
maiden over a sloppy course, so I wasn’t concerned about him handling the mud,
but I was curious if he had taken a sharp right at the first turn to stop at
the Sky Suites for a Black Eyed Susan drink.
As they came thundering around the far turn and into the
stretch, I shook my head in dismay as I saw Exaggerator skip past Nyquist. Gutierrez
is dead in my books for that ride, and you could visibly tell that poor Nyquist
knew he was getting passed and hated it. Cherry Wine’s location was still a
mystery but as they neared I saw the grey rocketing up the inside of Nyquist
and let loose a huge scream as he crossed the wire a nose in front. Amanda and
I found each other yelling at the top of our lungs, and then we galloped over
to Dale, who was staring intently at the screen, trying to decide if his horse
had gotten up over the unbeaten champion or not. When it was official everyone
looked pretty elated, and who wouldn’t after running such a huge race in a
classic?
After running on the track to greet Cherry and essentially
destroying my boots, I reconvened with the Nagels back in the Stronach tent. We
all high fived after such a huge run, with most of us cashing massive tickets
as Cherry had gone off at 17-1. From there the rest of the night was filled
with bourbon and celebrations, and my first Preakness experience was in the
books. As sad I was that Nyquist had lost in such a brutal fashion, Cherry Wine’s
incredible effort resonated in my heart.
Needless to say, while my first Preakness experience was a
bit damper than desired, it was also incredibly fulfilling. I got paid to
handicap horse racing and share my love for the sport and gambling with others,
and to top it off the Romans had a huge weekend with their runners which was
just an absolute blast. Hopefully the next time I return to Pimlico the weather
is slightly more enjoyable, but other than the precipitation, I left Baltimore
with zero complaints and strictly happy memories.
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| The girls killing it in the Stronach Tent |
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| Hannah and Kyle with Miss Maryland! Blue steel baby |
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| All about the bourbon & fast horses for this girl |
