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History of Preakness Stakes

On May 23, 1873 the first edition of the Preakness took place. Two years before the inaugural Kentucky Derby, the folks at Pimlico were busy working on a new three-year old stakes race of their own. Pimlico, which since its opening in 1870 had conducted all of its racing in the fall, ran its first Spring Meet in the year of 1873, with the initial running of the Preakness held on May 23. The Preakness was founded by then-Maryland governor Oden Bowie. Governor Bowie's term had actually ended in 1872, yet that did not prevent him from naming the then- mile and a half race in honor of the colt who won the Dinner Party Stakes in 1870 on the occasion of Pimlico's opening. At an 1868 Saratoga party hosted by a Milton Sanford, Bowie guaranteed that Maryland would have a track available for a race that was later dubbed the Dinner Party Stakes and had been instantly promoted by Bowie at the party when he offered $15,000 as a purse--no small sum at the time.

The Maryland Jockey Club negotiated for the land that became known as Pimlico later that year; the new course opened as promised on October 25, 1870. Sanford, who had gained his wealth by selling blankets during the Civil war, went after the $15,000 with a colt of his own named Preakness, who won over all the horses of the race, including one owned by the governor which came in last. Nevertheless, it was Bowie who named the eventual second jewel of the Triple Crown. (The Dinner Party Stakes, later changed to the Early Times Dixie, is now the eighth oldest stakes race in America and still run annually at Pimlico.)

After flourishing for almost two decades, the Maryland Jockey Club ran into tough financial times after the 1889 running. In 1890 the Preakness was run at Morris Park in New York, and in 1891, 1892, and 1893 it wasn't run at all. From 1894 to 1908 the Preakness was held at the Gravesend track in Brooklyn, New York. Although the Maryland Jockey Club held some steeplechase and trotting races at Pimlico, the Preakness did not return to its Baltimore home until 1909. It wasn't until 1948 that these fifteen "lost races" were incorporated into the official race history, with the 1890 running not added until the 1960s. Nevertheless, ever since the May 12, 1909 Preakness, won by Effendi, the Preakness has been held at Pimlico every year.

It didn't take long for the Preakness to grow into a force in horse racing: in 1918 26 horses were entered, forcing the race to be run in two divisions. The next year, a colt named Sir Barton became the first Triple Crown winner. Man O'War, who skipped his one chance at the Derby, helped establish the Preakness into a "true American classic" when he romped in the 1920 edition. The place of the Preakness Stakes in the Triple Crown and American sport is firm, with the race garnering nearly a half million people in attendance over the last five years.

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 respellings, the name evolved into Preakness. One variation of the name was Preckiness, used by General George Washington to describe where his troops were stationed during the 1776-77 winter. Milton Sanford, who we saw earlier in connection with the Dinner Party Stakes, called his farms (he had one in New Jersey and one in Kentucky) Preakness. Oddly enough, his New Jersey farm was located in the Indians' "quail woods," and there remains today a Preakness, New Jersey. Sanford, without much regard, purchased a yearling that was bred in Kentucky's Woodburn Farm, the eighth foal of a horse named Bay Leaf, for $2,000. He named it Preakness.

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