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Preakness To Highlight All-Stakes Program At Pimlico On Oct. 3

Highlighted by the $1 million Preakness (G1), presented this year as the final jewel in a refashioned Triple Crown, the Maryland Jockey Club will serve up a total of 16 stakes, nine graded, worth $3.35 million in purses over Preakness weekend at Pimlico Race Course.

The 145th running of the 1 3/16-mile Preakness for 3-year-olds will anchor an all-stakes program of 12 races, seven graded, worth $2.7 million on Saturday, Oct. 3. It will be joined this year by the 96th renewal of the $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan (G2), one of the country's premiere events for 3-year-old fillies, contested at 1 1/8 miles.

Turf runners 3 and up will travel 1 1/16 miles in the $250,000 Dinner Party (G2), previously run as the Dixie, now in its 119th year. Pimlico's oldest stakes race and the eighth-oldest in the country, it was named the Dinner Party for its 1870 debut and run at two miles.

Other grass stakes on the Preakness program are the $150,000 Gallorette (G3) for fillies and mares 3 and up, $150,000 Laurel Futurity for 2-year-olds and $150,000 Selima for 2-year-old fillies, each going 1 1/16 miles; and $100,000 James W. Murphy for 3-year-olds and $100,000 Hilltop for 3-year-old fillies at one mile.

Joining the Preakness Day lineup this year is the $200,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) at six furlongs for 3-year-olds and up. Other sprint stakes on the card are the $150,000 Miss Preakness (G3) for 3-year-old fillies at six furlongs and $100,000 Skipat for fillies and mares 3 and up.

Rounding out the Oct. 3 stakes lineup is the $100,000 UAE President Cup (G1) for Arabians, contested at 1 1/16 miles for 4-year-olds and up.

The historic $250,000 Pimlico Special (G3) for 3-year-olds and up, returned to 1 3/16 miles after being contested at 1 ¼ miles in 2019, is the centerpiece of a Friday, Oct. 2 card that also serves as Claiming Crown Preview Day.

Each winner of the nine Claiming Crown Preview Day races will earn automatic entry and a stipend toward travel costs to the annual Claiming Crown Day program being held for the eighth consecutive year at Gulfstream Park. A similar preview was hosted at Laurel Park in 2015.

Preakness weekend will kick off Thursday, Oct. 1 with three stakes led by the $200,000 Chick Lang (G3) for 3-year-olds at six furlongs. It will be joined by a pair of five-furlong turf sprints, the $100,000 Jim McKay Turf Sprint for 3-year-olds and up and $100,000 The Very One for fillies and mares 3 and older.

Live racing will be conducted at Pimlico this year from Sept. 24-26 and Oct. 1-3.

Nominations for all Thoroughbred stakes, excluding the Preakness, close Thursday, Sept. 17. Nominations for the UAE President Cup for Arabians close Saturday, Sept. 19.

All nominations can be forwarded to Racing Secretary Jillian Tullock at Pimlico Race Course, Hayward & Winner Aves., Baltimore MD 21215, e-mailed to stakes coordinator Coley Blind at cblind@marylandracing.com, or by calling 410-542-9400 or 800-638-1859.

For more information go to: https://www.pimlico.com/sites/www.pimlico.com/files/PDF/2020_Preakness_Stakes_0.pdf

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Preakness Qualifier: Dean Martini, Mischevious Alex Top Nominees To Federico Tesio Stakes

Dean Martini and South Bend, the top two finishers from the Ohio Derby (G3), multiple Grade 3 winner Mischevious Alex and a quartet from seven-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Todd Pletcher are among 20 horses nominated to the $100,000 Federico Tesio Monday, Sept. 7 at Laurel Park.

The 1 1/8-mile Tesio for 3-year-olds, a 'Win and In' event for Triple Crown-nominated horses to the 145th Preakness Stakes (G1) Oct. 3 at Pimlico Race Course, is one of nine stakes worth $900,000 in purses to be contested over Laurel's Preakness Prep Weekend that includes four stakes on Kentucky Derby (G1) Day, Saturday, Sept. 5, drawing a total of 218 nominations.

Two starts after being claimed for $50,000, Dean Martini upset the Ohio Derby at odds of 14-1, holding off late-running South Bend by three-quarters of a length. Dean Martini returned to run sixth in the Ellis Park Derby Aug. 9, while South Bend was purchased privately and finished fourth in the 1 ¼-mile Travers (G1) Aug. 8 at Saratoga.

Cash is King and LC Racing's Mischevious Alex won the seven-furlong Swale (G3) at Gulfstream Park and one-mile Gotham (G3) at Aqueduct over the winter but has finished off the board in his two most recent starts, both at seven-eighths – the Woody Stephens (G1) June 20 and H. Allen Jerkens (G1) Aug. 1.

Among Pletcher's nominees are Oaklawn Stakes runner-up Farmington Road, on the Triple Crown trail earlier this year and allowance winner over the Colonial Downs turf last out July 29; Happy Saver, a son of Pletcher's 2010 Derby winner Super Saver that debuted June 20 at Belmont and is unbeaten in two starts; and Money Moves, also unraced at 2 who won suffered his first career loss in a 1 1/8-mile optional claiming allowance July 25 at Saratoga.

Also on the special Labor Day holiday program Sept. 7 is the $100,000 Weber City Miss for 3-year-old fillies going about 1 1/16 miles, a 'Win and In' qualifier for the $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan (G2) on the Preakness undercard.

A total of 27 horses were nominated to the Weber City Miss led by 2019 Spinaway (G1) winner Perfect Alibi, who finished behind likely Kentucky Oaks (G1) favorite Gamine in each of her last two starts, most recently the Aug. 8 Test (G1) at Saratoga; Project Whiskey, 38-1 winner of the Delaware Oaks (G3) July 4; and Bella Aurora, winner of Laurel's seven-furlong Gin Talking last December.

Three grass stakes, which drew a total of 93 nominations, will also be run Sept. 7. Most popular among horsemen was the $100,000 All Along for fillies and mares 3 and up at 1 1/8 miles with 35 nominees including graded-stakes winners Secret Message, Theodora B. and Varenka and graded-stakes placed Beautiful Lover and Feel Glorious.

Pewter Stable's Dubini is nominated to defend his title in the $100,000 Laurel Dash for 3-year-olds and up sprinting 5 ½ furlongs on the turf and is joined by fellow stakes winners Introduced, Just Might, Regally Irish, Shekky Shebaz, Smooth B, Texas Wedge and Wet Your Whistle along with the 10-year-olds Oak Bluffs, a 21-time career winner trained by Mary Eppler, and 2013 Mr. Prospector (G3) winner Singanothersong.

The $100,000 Henry S. Clark at 1 1/16 miles for 3-year-olds and up drew 32 nominees, among them Isabelle Haskell de Tomaso's defending champion Irish Strait; graded-stakes winners Doctor Mounty, Golden Brown, Monongahela and Olympico; and veterans John Jones and O Dionysus, stakes winners on both turf and dirt.

John Jones and Monongahela are also nominated to the $100,000 Deputed Testamony, a 1 1/16-mile event for 3-year-olds and up on the main track that returns to stakes calendar Sept. 5 for the first time since 2008. Other nominees include multiple stakes winners Cordmaker and Someday Jones, Grade 3 winner Name Changer and impressive recent Laurel allowance winner Top Line Growth.

Grade 3 winners Bellera, Golden Award and Horologist and stakes winners Another Broad, Artful Splatter, Gotham Gala, Meadow Dance and Tasting the Stars are among nominees to the Deputed Testamony's female counterpart, the $100,000 Twixt, won in 2019 by retired 2019 Barbara Fritchie (G3) winner Late Night Pow Wow.

The Sept. 5 stakes are rounded out by a pair of six-furlong dirt sprints, the $100,000 Polynesian for 3-year-olds and up led by stakes-winning stablemates Laki and Taco Supream, and $100,000 Alma North for fillies and mares 3 and older, topped by 12-time stakes winner Anna's Bandit and fellow multiple stakes winner Hello Beautiful.

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Preakness Added To Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series

Officials at Breeders’ Cup Limited and The Stronach Group have announced that the Oct. 3 GI Preakness S., the final leg of this year’s reconstituted Triple Crown, has been added to the Breeders’ Cup Challenge series and will offer the winner an all-expenses-paid berth in the starting gate for the GI Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland Nov. 7. It will mark the first time that a Triple Crown races is part of the series.

Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the traditional first leg of the Triple Crown was postponed from its customary position on the first Saturday in May and was rescheduled for Sept. 5. The New York Racing Association staged the GI Belmont S. as the first of this year’s Triple Crown races June 20. Tiz the Law (Constitution) was the convincing winner of the Belmont, shortened to nine furlongs for this running.

The Preakness and Breeders’ Cup Classic will both air on NBC.

“We are delighted to join The Stronach Group and the Maryland Jockey Club in welcoming the Preakness to this year’s Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series, and that we will be able to provide the winning connections with an added incentive to run in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic,” said Drew Fleming, Breeders’ Cup President and CEO. “As a foundation race of the Triple Crown and the premier event in the proud history of Maryland racing, we look forward to working together with The Stronach Group, and our partners at NBC Sports, to promote an exciting fall season for Thoroughbred racing.”

Added Craig Fravel, Chief Executive Officer, Racing Operations, 1/ST: “The events of 2020 have for all of us been about responding to unforeseen challenges and making the best of them. Many of those challenges–including the changes to the Triple Crown–have been unwelcome, but becoming part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series is most welcome and a fitting finale to the 3-year-old season as the horses and their connections make their way to Baltimore for the last leg of the Triple Crown. We look forward to hosting the best of America’s three-year-old horses on Oct. 3 at the Preakness and to enjoying their success thereafter in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.”

“With terrific racing ahead, we’re excited that the two biggest events of the fall months will be further connected with the Preakness Stakes winner earning a coveted berth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic,” said Jon Miller, President of Programming for NBC and NBCSN.

The post Preakness Added To Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Preakness Stakes To Offer Automatic Starting Position In Breeders’ Cup Classic

Officials of the Breeders' Cup and The Stronach Group today announced that the winner of the 145th Preakness Stakes (G1) for 3-year-olds on Oct. 3 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore will earn an automatic starting position into the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1). The announcement marks the first time that a Triple Crown race will be a part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series.

The Breeders' Cup Challenge is an international series of stakes races whose winners receive automatic starting positions and fees paid into corresponding races of the Breeders' Cup World Championships, scheduled to be held this year on Nov. 6-7 at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky. The $7 million Longines Breeders' Cup Classic, contested at 1 ¼ miles, will be run on Saturday, Nov. 7.

Both the Preakness, run at 1 3/16 miles, and the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic, will be broadcast live on NBC.

“We are delighted to join The Stronach Group and the Maryland Jockey Club in welcoming the Preakness to this year's Breeders' Cup Challenge Series, and that we will be able to provide the winning connections with an added incentive to run in the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic,” said Drew Fleming, Breeders' Cup President and CEO. “As a foundation race of the Triple Crown, and the premier event in the proud history of Maryland racing, we look forward to working together with The Stronach Group, and our partners at NBC Sports, to promote an exciting fall season for Thoroughbred racing.”

“The events of 2020 have for all of us been about responding to unforeseen challenges and making the best of them,” said Craig Fravel, Chief Executive Officer, Racing Operations, 1/ST. “Many of those challenges including the changes to the Triple Crown have been unwelcome but becoming part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series is most welcome and a fitting finale to the three-year-old season as the horses and their connections make their way to Baltimore for the last leg of the Triple Crown. We look forward to hosting the best of America's three-year-old horses on October 3 at the Preakness and to enjoying their success thereafter in the Breeders' Cup Classic.”

“With terrific racing ahead, we're excited that the two biggest events of the fall months will be further connected with the Preakness Stakes winner earning a coveted berth in the Breeders' Cup Classic,” said Jon Miller, President of Programming for NBC and NBCSN.

Due to scheduling changes caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the Preakness date was shifted from May 16 to Oct. 3, and will be run as the third jewel of the 2020 Triple Crown. This year's Triple Crown began on June 20 with the Belmont Stakes (G1), won by Tiz the Law, at Belmont Park, and will be followed by the Kentucky Derby (G1), which will be run on Sept. 5 at Churchill Downs.

Four Preakness winners have won the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic. In 2015, American Pharoah swept the Triple Crown and the Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland to become racing's first “Grand Slam” winner. Preakness winners Sunday Silence (1989), Alysheba (1987) and Curlin (2007) also won the Classic. Alysheba captured the Classic in 1988.

As part of the benefits of the Challenge series, the Breeders' Cup will pay the $150,000 in entry fees for the Preakness winner to start in the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic, which is limited to 14 starters. Breeders' Cup also will provide a travel allowance of $10,000 for all North American starters based outside of Kentucky to compete in the World Championships. The Preakness winner must already be nominated to the Breeders' Cup program or it must be nominated by the Championships' pre-entry deadline of Oct. 26 to receive the rewards.

There are six horses who have thus far earned automatic starting positions into this year's Longines Breeders' Cup Classic through the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Mozu Ascot, winner of the February Stakes (G1) at Tokyo Racecourse on Feb. 23; Tom's d'Etat, who took the Stephen Foster Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs on June 27; Authentic, winner of the TVG.com Haskell Stakes (G1) at Monmouth Park on July 18; Improbable, who won the Whitney (G1) at Saratoga Race Course on Aug. 1; Ghaiyyath (IRE), winner of the Juddmonte International Stakes (G1) at York on Aug. 19 in Great Britain and Maximum Security, who won the TVG Pacific Classic (G1) at Del Mar on Aug. 22.

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