Pimlico

Before last year's Preakness, trainer Wayne Lukas had had enough good luck at Pimlico to fill the pot at the end of the rainbow. Besides his two Preakness victories, with Codex in 1980 and Tank's Prospect in 1985, Lukas had won the Pimlico Special with Criminal Type in 1990 and Farma Way in 1991. Twice Lukas saddled 3-year-old fillies who won the Black-Eyed Susan, the companion stake to the Preakness. But then came the 1993 Preakness.

Racing fans who study the field for today's Pimlico Special will ponder two questions. One is the universal racetrack puzzler: Who is going to win? That's a tough one, but As Indicated might have a slim edge over Devil His Due. The other question is even more complex: Why didn't this Grade I event, with its $600,000 purse, attract a better field? Only six horses were entered Thursday, and two of them are noncontenders. Devil His Due, the favorite, has won one race in his last eight starts.

Devil His Due is back in the Pimlico Special to defend his title against some pretty familiar company. Devil His Due, Valley Crossing and Pistols And Roses finished 1-2-3 in the race last year, and they're back in the six-horse field on Saturday. Devil His Due is the 7-5 favorite and will carry high weight of 121 pounds in the $600,000 Grade I race at Pimlico. Joining them will be As Indicated, Greatsilverfleet and Gavel Gate.

Hollywood Park's bid to buy Pimlico and Laurel racetracks in Maryland fell apart Thursday, with the tracks' principal shareholder retaining control and completing a sale of 100 acres on the Laurel site to Jack Kent Cooke, owner of the Washington Redskins. Cooke said that he will use the property to build a 78,600-seat stadium, which is expected to be ready for the Redskins' 1996 season.

What Hollywood Park is getting from its imminent purchase of Pimlico Race Course is a track that throws a blanket of painted daisies over the Preakness winner every year, and calls them black-eyed Susans. The Maryland state flower, you see, is not in season in May. But everything else about the people of Pimlico and Baltimore is genuine. In the late 1970s, I was at the races at Delaware Park with Herman Cohen, who then owned Pimlico with his brother Ben.

Hollywood Park is close to completing a deal to buy Pimlico Race Course, the home of the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore, and Pimlico's sister track in Laurel, Md., sources close to the sale said Thursday night. R.D. Hubbard, board chairman of Hollywood Park, could not be reached for comment, but Maryland sources said that the sale would leave the Inglewood track with an 80% equity interest in Pimlico and Laurel.

Trainer Mack Miller stood in a second-floor box seat at Pimlico Thursday morning, stopwatch in hand. Down on the track, where they will run the 118th Preakness on Saturday, Jerry Bailey was aboard Sea Hero, the Kentucky Derby winner. Before Sea Hero's three-furlong workout, Miller peered out at the egg-shaped Pimlico layout. "Those turns really are sharp, aren't they?" he said. Miller, 71, hasn't been at Pimlico in a long time.

A thoroughbred was electrocuted and his exercise rider hospitalized in a bizarre mishap Thursday morning in the auxiliary starting gate at Pimlico Race Course. Fox Brush, a 3-year-old gelding, was killed inside a stall within the steel-framed gate when a cable from an electrical supply source came in contact with the rained-on gate, charging it with high voltage, according to preliminary reports.

Two weeks after the Kentucky Derby, the lightweight of Louisville became the pride of Pimlico by storming to a seven-length victory in Saturday's Preakness, the biggest winning margin in the Triple Crown's middle race in 17 years. After running 10th, beaten by 10 3/4 lengths, as the Derby favorite, Hansel easily disposed of four rivals from Churchill Downs and three others.

Pimlico long has been known as a track that gives a tremendous advantage to front-runners, and even if recent evidence suggests this is not true, the reputation endures. Virtually every trainer preparing a horse for Saturday's Preakness is mindful of the racing strip's supposed bias. Ron McAnally watched speed horses run one-two-three all the way around the track in last week's Pimlico Special, while his own stretch-runner, Festin, couldn't get into contention.