Preakness | Horse Racing Free Tips

Bruno Mars to Headline Preakness Live

Grammy Award winner Bruno Mars will be among the events highlighting this year's Preakness LIVE, which will follow the 148^th edition of the GI Preakness S. at Pimlico May 20. Mars previously performed at the Preakness 11 years ago. Preakness LIVE will feature a full day of live music and entertainment beginning at 10:30 a.m., including performances by Grammy nominated musical duo Sofi Tukker, DJ Chantel Jeffries and Martin 2 Smoove.

Preakness LIVE will also feature Baltimore's art scene with the return of the infield art garden featuring unique works by local artists using shipping containers as a canvas, provided by Ports America Chesapeake and in partnership with the Mayor's Office of Art & Culture. An installation of selected works of art from the Preakness Art of Racing in collaboration with Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) will also be on display.

The winning artwork of The Art of Racing will be reproduced on a curated collection of Preakness merchandise available for sale during Preakness 148, the proceeds of which will be used to support the activities of Park Heights Renaissance, a non-profit organization that provides employment opportunities and pursues affordable housing for members of the Park Heights community.

This year the inclusion of local culinary offerings will extend beyond Preakness LIVE with catering partners Baltimore's Atlas Restaurant Group and the woman-owned Maryland based brand, Ridgewells. Hiatus Cheesecake founded by Baltimore's Matthew Featherstone will provide desserts for Preakness 148 guests.

Tickets for Preakness LIVE, including for the fan favorite Mug Club and limited availability VIP experiences are on sale now and can be purchased at www.preakness.com/preakness-live with General Admission starting at $59.

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Thursday’s Racing Insights: McPeek Duo Back in Action at Oaklawn

8th-OP, $106K, OC 50k/N2X, 4yo/up, 1 1/8m, 5:22 p.m.

The Ken McPeek-trained duo of 'TDN Rising Star' SMILE HAPPY (Runhappy) and CREATIVE MINISTER (Creative Cause) kick off their 4-year-old seasons at Oaklawn Park Thursday.

Smile Happy, winner of the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. at two and runner-up as the favorite in last year's GI Toyota Blue Grass S., makes his first start since finishing eighth in the GI Kentucky Derby. The 2-1 morning-line favorite gets first-time Lasix while facing seven rivals here.

Creative Minister, a respectable third in last year's GI Preakness S., came within a nose of recording a career high in Churchill's Bourbon Trail S. Sept. 24. He was a well-beaten eighth in an optional claimer at Keeneland when last seen in the fall. TJCIS PPs

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Preakness Winner Early Voting Retired to Ashford

Klaravich Stables' Classic winner Early Voting (Gun Runner–Amour d'Ete, by Tiznow) has been retired from racing and will stand at Coolmore America's Ashford Stud for 2023, Coolmore announced Wednesday. Out of a half-sister to Speightstown (Gone West), Early Voting made each of his first three starts at Aqueduct, winning a maiden special weight and the GIII Withers S. before finishing second by a neck to eventual GI Belmont S. winner Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) in the GII Wood Memorial S.

Despite having the required points for the GI Kentucky Derby, trainer Chad Brown decided to bypass the race and went straight for the GI Preakness S. on owner Seth Klarman's birthday where he defeated likely champion Epicenter (Not This Time) to record a Beyer Speed Figure of 105.

“Early Voting was an outstanding physical specimen as a yearling,” said purchaser Mike Ryan. “He had size, strength, scope, substance and tremendous quality. It is very easy to be impressed by him, he has all the credentials to become a successful stallion and I am very confident that breeders will love him.”

“Early Voting identified himself very early in his initial training as one of our top colts in his crop,” said Brown. “He has tremendous gate speed for a horse his size and incredible stamina to compliment it. His performance in the Preakness confirms his talent as one of the best in this talented division.”

“We're delighted to be standing Classic winner Early Voting,” said Ashford's Dermot Ryan. “He's a very good-looking son of a remarkable sire in Gun Runner–with an incredible six Grade I winners from his first crop–and he's out of a half-sister to the sire of our own Munnings.”

A fee for Early Voting will be announced at a later date.

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Epicenter Back to Work, Targeting Summer Campaign at Saratoga

Epicenter (Not This Time), a too-good-to-be-second as the favorite in both the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness S., has begun gearing up for a summer campaign at Saratoga.

The Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC colorbearer worked four furlongs in an easy :50.60 (31/37) at Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen's Churchill Downs base June 20, just his second move since rallying for runner-up honors in the middle leg of the Triple Crown.

“He's like a machine,” said David Fiske, longtime advisor to the Winchell family. “He took a few weeks off after the Preakness and now he's gotten a couple of slow half-miles in. We're trying to get him cranked up for the [GII] Jim Dandy S. [July 30] and then the [GI Runhappy] Travers [S. Aug. 27].”

Fiske continued, “Nobody's lost any confidence in him. He's still the same horse he ever was. Still acts the same, travels the same, trains the same… He is a professional racehorse.”

The 'Mid-Summer Derby' could also be a potential landing spot for Kentucky Derby upsetter Rich Strike (Keen Ice), Preakness winner Early Voting (Gun Runner) and GI Belmont S. hero Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo).

After getting first run into a supersonic early pace and enjoying a clear lead in the stretch, Epicenter came up a valiant 3/4 of a length short behind the second-longest shot in Kentucky Derby history.

Steadied and squeezed in the early stages two weeks later in Baltimore, the $260,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase was left way too much to do, rallying smartly from eighth to finish 1 1/4 lengths shy of the forwardly placed Early Voting.

Epicenter's resume also includes wins in the GII Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby, GII Risen Star S. and Gun Runner S.

“It's just the way it shook out–he was an unfortunate victim of circumstance in both the Derby and Preakness,” Fiske said. “Everybody is still pretty fired up about him. It will be exciting to get him back going again.”

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