PREAKNESS STAKES 2006
Where is Preakness Stakes?
Pimlico Race Course
When is Preakness Stakes? May 20, 2006
BALTIMORE, The middle jewel of the Visa Triple Crown in set for Saturday, May
20, 2006 at historic Pimlico Race Course.
In the spring of 1873, two years before the inaugural Kentucky Derby, the
folks at Pimlico were busy working on a new three-year old stakes race of their
own. Pimlico, which since its opening in 1870 had conducted all of its racing in
the fall, ran its first Spring Meet in the year of 1873, with the initial
running of the Preakness held on May 23. The
Preakness was founded by then-Maryland governor Oden Bowie. Governor Bowie's
term had actually ended in 1872, yet that did not prevent him from naming the
then- mile and a half race in honor of the colt who won the Dinner Party Stakes
in 1870 on the occasion of Pimlico's opening. At an 1868 Saratoga party hosted
by a Milton Sanford, Bowie guaranteed that Maryland would have a track available
for a race that was later dubbed the Dinner Party Stakes and had been instantly
promoted by Bowie at the party when he offered $15,000 as a purse--no small sum
at the time.
The Maryland Jockey Club negotiated for the land that became known as
Pimlico later that year; the new course opened as promised on October 25,
1870. Sanford, who had gained his wealth by selling blankets during the Civil
war, went after the $15,000 with a colt of his own named
Preakness, who won over all the horses of the race, including one owned by
the governor which came in last. Nevertheless, it was Bowie who named the
eventual second jewel of the Triple Crown. (The Dinner Party Stakes, later
changed to the Early Times Dixie, is now the eighth oldest stakes race in
America and still run annually at Pimlico.)
On May 23, 1873 the first edition
of the
Preakness took place.
Interestingly, the setting was familiar to that of the inaugural Derby. The
crowds made it to the grounds by buggy carriage and omnibus, although a
projected horsecar line from Baltimore and Pikesville was unfortunately
terminated two miles south of the track. Still, some fans did arrive via the
Northern Central Railroad which brought spectators closer to the track--a walk
of only one uphill mile. The race itself claimed
seven contestants, with Survivor galloping to an easy ten length victory, a
margin of victory that still stands as the largest in
Preakness history.
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