Moments after the finish of the Preakness is declared official, a hydraulic lift hoists a painter, his paints (lots of them) and his ladder a couple of dozen feet into the air, whereupon he will meticulously apply the colors of the winning owner and the winning horse’s number to the weather vane which sits high above the winner’s circle.
The painting of the Preakness Stakes weathervane is a grand Pimlico tradition
Unlike most traditional vanes, Pimlico’s is in the shape of a thoroughbred racehorse and its jockey and has been since 1909, after the original arrow-shaped meteorological device that sat upon the Member’s Clubhouse was struck down by lightning.
The Maryland Jockey Club then commissioned a wind indicator in the shape of a horse and rider to replace it, and it was duly christened in the colors of the silks borne by that year’s winner, Effendi.
When the clubhouse burned down in 1966, the only thing that survived was the old iron wind gauge, now on display at the “Hoofbeats Through History” exhibit at the track. The current apparatus, made of aluminum, sits atop a replica of the old building’s cupola constructed in the infield winner’s circle.
History and Honor of Preakness Winner’s Colors
While the colors of the Preakness winner traditionally remain on the airflow sentry for a year, in 1918, when the Preakness was run in two divisions, with Jack Hare Jr. winning one and War Cloud the other, the colors were changed after six months to give them equal time at Old Hilltop.
Among those who have had the honor of painting the colors on the iconic five-foot-long piece of equipment in recent years was Michael Willinger of Sykesville, Maryland, who took over after the retirement of Tommy Ennis, a Charles Town, West Virginia sign painter, in 1987. Said Willinger at the time: “Let’s face it, it’s the only televised sign painting job in the country.” Following him were Lawrence Jones, who lives in the Pimlico neighborhood, who then handed the brush to College Park native Dick Hageman, a sign painter who had done considerable work for the MJC.
Handing Over the Brush
The two had met after Gary Barber’s War of Will won the 2019 Preakness. Once Jones finished painting the weathervane, he moved onto the iron jockey outside the stakes barn, but required assistance in accurately applying Barber’s pink silks, which include an almost three-dimensional B on the back surrounded by a circle.
“Those jockeys, with all the folds and everything that are cast into them, it can be hard to do a little fine-line circle like that. It was only a quarter-inch wide at the most, so I went by and did that for him one day,” said Hageman. “We would talk for hours after that about the sign painting business, how it was and how it is now.”
When Jones decided to retire at the age 79, when the Preakness was moved to October because of the COVID-19 pandemic, he didn’t hesitate to reach out to Hageman.
“When [he] called me and said he was turning the job over to me, I swear you could have knocked me over,” said Hageman. “When I got off the phone, I could barely speak to tell Vicky, my wife. I really didn’t think I would ever get the opportunity to do it and I can’t thank him enough for trusting me to follow in his footsteps.”
Hageman’s friends like to rib him about being a big deal and all, getting on national television every year, but he takes it all in stride.
“It keeps me in check to know that I also make a lot of signs that just say Men’s Room,” Hageman said.
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
