The Preakness Stakes is a prestigious Grade I stakes
race 1 3/16 mile (1.91 km) thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds,
held on the third Saturday in May of each year at Pimlico Race Course
in Baltimore, Maryland. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds (57 kg);
fillies 121 lb (55 kg). The Preakness Stakes has been termed "The Run
for the Black-Eyed Susans" because a horseshoe of black-eyed susans
(Rudbeckia hirta), the state flower of Maryland, is traditionally
placed around the winner's neck.
The
Preakness is the second and shortest leg in thoroughbred racing's
Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, and almost always attracts the
Kentucky Derby winner, some of the other horses that ran in the Derby,
and often a few horses that did not start in the Derby. (The phrase
"Triple Crown" was not applied to this series of races until the
1930s.) It is followed by the third leg, the Belmont Stakes.
Two
years before the Kentucky Derby was run for the first time, Pimlico
introduced its new stakes race for three-year-olds, the Preakness,
during its first-ever spring race meet in 1873. Former Maryland
Governor Oden Bowie named the then mile and one-half (2.41 km) race in
honor of the colt Preakness, from the Preakness Stables in Wayne, New
Jersey who won the Dinner Party Stakes on the day Pimlico Race Course
opened in the fall of 1870.
The first
Preakness drew seven starters; John Chamberlain's three-year-old,
Survivor, galloped home easily by ten lengths, the largest margin of
victory until 2004, winning a purse of $2,050.
In
1889, George "Spider" Anderson became the first African-American jockey
to win the Preakness. Between 1890 and 1908, the Preakness was run at
Morris Park Racetrack in the Bronx, New York and at the Gravesend, New
York racetrack.
Just after the horses for
the Preakness are called to the post, the audience is invited to sing
"Maryland, My Maryland," the official state song of Maryland.
Traditionally, the United States Naval Academy Glee Club assembles in
the Pimlico infield to lead the song. This tradition mirrors the
singing of "My Old Kentucky Home" at the post parade for the Kentucky
Derby.
As soon as the Preakness winner has
been declared official, a painter climbs a ladder to the top of a
replica of the Old Clubhouse cupola. He applies the colors of the
victorious owner's silks on the jockey and horse which are part of the
weather vane atop the infield structure. The horseshoe of black-eyed
susans is also placed around the winning horse's neck at this time and
a replica of the Woodlawn Vase is given to the winning horse's owner.
Should that horse have also won the Kentucky Derby, speculation and
excitement immediately begin to mount as to whether that horse will go
on to win the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing at the Belmont Stakes
in June.
The practice started in 1909 at
Pimlico when a horse and rider weather vane sat at the top of the old
Members' Clubhouse, which was constructed when Pimlico opened in 1870.
The Victorian building was destroyed by fire in June, 1966. A replica
of the old building's cupola was built to stand in the Preakness
winner's circle in the infield.