On the morning of May 16, a cloudless blue sky greeted the select fans steadily filing into Laurel Park to enjoy a Preakness day away from its traditional home.
The Preakness Stakes (G1) is being contested at Laurel this year while Pimlico Race Course is being rebuilt. First post for the 14-race card is 10:30 a.m.; the first stakes post is at 12:15 p.m. (Race 4, the Skipat Stakes); and the scheduled post time for the Preakness (Race 13) is 7:01 p.m.
A temperature of about 70 degrees is expected for the first race with a high of 82 forecast for about 4 p.m. There is no rain in the forecast.
As of 8:42 a.m., all 14 runners entered in the Preakness were expected to start.
Scratches from the day’s other stakes races include:
Race 4, Skipat Stakes: No. 5 Sporting Lady and No. 6 Complexity Jane
Race 6, Sir Barton Stakes: No. 7 Reagan's Honor
Race 7, Chick Lang Stakes: No. 3 Buds Notion
Race 8, Maryland Sprint Stakes (G3): No. 5 Floodlites and No. 7 Hymn
Race 9, James W. Murphy Stakes: No. 3 Zihnal
Race 10, Dinner Party Stakes (G3T): No. 2 Thundering and No. 6 Dresden Row
Race 11, Gallorette Stakes (G3T): clear
Race 12, Jim McKay Turf Sprint Stakes: No. 7 Isivunguvungu
Race 13, Preakness Stakes: clear
