Join The Saratoga Special Readers Club for exclusive access to news, swag, discounts, special events and more
Tom Law 
The Preakness Stakes was supposed to be Orb’s to win, yet it was D. Wayne Lukas who believed there was still another classic out there with his name on it. Gary Stevens felt the same way, the fire burning strong enough to lead the 50-year-old Hall of Famer out from the front of the camera and back onto racing’s biggest stages.
The story jumped off the page when I cracked open the sports section of USA Today settling in for a late breakfast Friday at the Nautilus Diner in Timonium.
Races like the Jim McKay Turf Sprint Stakes can sometimes get a little lost in the shuffle. Understandably so, most days, considering that Friday’s card at Pimlico Race Course was anchored by such long-standing traditions as the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes and Pimlico Special. And the Lady Legends for the Cure Race. And the XpressBet Jockey Challenge. And on and on and on.
Aggressive doesn’t fit, workmanlike seems too cliché, and forward can’t tell the entire story of Preakness Stakes contender Departing’s professional approach when he hits the racetrack either for competition or morning training.
Ralph Nicks might be up against it against his former boss in Friday’s Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, but the easy going trainer didn’t seem overly concerned as he went through his paces Thursday morning outside the stakes barn at Pimlico Race Course.
Thursday was a busy day in Baltimore for Niall and Stephanie Brennan, with horses to put through their final serious rehearsal before they exit their program at one racetrack and a star graduate to see on another.
The morning two days before the Preakness Stakes is always a little more lively and laid back than just about any other during the American racing year, with each of the entrants and just about all their connections on hand along with the annual Alibi Breakfast, and Thursday didn’t disappoint. Here’s a little of what TIHR soaked in.
Standing on the stage inside the tent with the giant Finlandia Vodka of Finland banner lapped on the roof, swarmed by a mob of reporters and photographers just minutes after a collective groan vibrated through the space occupied plenty of people and the smell of crab cakes and fresh oysters, Shug McGaughey pinpointed his only major concern.
Some horses truly don’t handle a wet surface and poor track conditions offer a handy excuse for any Kentucky Derby starter that does not run well. Six Derby starters are set to go to the gate in Saturday’s Preakness Stakes. Some finished well up the track in Louisville.
Orb and Departing know each other all too well, or at least they did growing up in the Bluegrass pastures of Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky. Now they’re about to get reacquainted, this time as the main players in one of the country’s marquee races for members of their generation.
