Some Preakness Stakes Trivia - Be All Prepared for the 2008 Preakness Stakes!
The Preakness Stakes is an American Grade I stakes thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses, held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It has been termed ‘The Run for the Black-Eyed Susans’ because a horseshoe of black-eyed susans, the state flower of Maryland, is traditionally placed around the winner’s neck. The 2008 Preakness Stakes is trotting in on May 17, 2008. Here is some Preakness Stakes info so that you are better equipped for the 2008 Preakness Stakes race.
The Preakness is the second and shortest leg in American thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown. It is preceded by the Kentucky Derby and followed by the third leg, the Belmont Stakes.
Preakness Stakes - the beginning
Two years before the Kentucky Derby was run for the first time, a new stakes race for three-year-olds, the Preakness, was introduced and run for the first-ever time in 1873. The scene was set for the first Preakness Stakes on Tuesday, May 27, a warm and muggy spring day at Pimlico. The crowd swelled to 12,000. The first race drew seven starters, but it was John Chamberlain’s three-year old, Survivor, who galloped home easily by ten lengths to a purse of $2,050 which, to this day, remains the largest Preakness margin of victory.
How the Preakness got its name
Like a lot of names throughout America, the name Preakness is derived from Native American culture. A northern New Jersey band of Indians called the Minisi labeled their area Pra-qua-les, meaning ‘quail woods’. After some inventive re-spellings, the name evolved into Preakness. Milton Sanford, a local horse breeder, called his farms Preakness. Oddly enough, his New Jersey farm was located in the Indians’ ‘quail woods’.
Sanford purchased a yearling that was bred in Kentucky’s Woodburn Farm. He named it Preakness. It was this horse that went on to win the Dinner Party Stakes at Pimlico’s inaugural in 1870. In 1873, the Maryland Jockey Club honored him by calling its newest stakes race ‘Preakness’.
It is interesting to note that Preakness, in addition to supplying the name for the second jewel of the Triple Crown, also touched off a reform in English law which governed the handling of animals after it was shot dead by the Duke of Hamilton.
The Preakness Stakes drink
The Black-Eyed Susan, the ‘official’ drink of the Preakness Stakes, is a mixture of vodka, light rum and Cointreau, along with pineapple juice and orange juice. Poured over crushed ice and garnished with lime, the drink has been a part of the Preakness Stakes tradition for a long time now.
2008 Preakness Stakes tickets at TICKETFINDER.com™
Now that you know all about the Preakness Stakes, you would definitely want to be at the race. If you want to attend the 2008 Preakness Stakes in person, TICKETFINDER.com™ is your source. Whether you want to watch the complete circuit from the grandstand or lean on the rail as the horses thunder by, the online ticketing portal makes it easy to buy 2008 Preakness Stakes tickets online. Preakness Stakes seating arrangement is also featured on the site so that you can pick your favorite seat!
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