Can not resist a thread which includes three of my all time favorites: Frankie
Rainbow, Comrade Curtis, and Albatross, who laughed along with me when I poked
some fun at him a while back. If you can not find humor in your own foibles,
you are missing out on a lot of good material.

I concur with all who have observed that Pimlico is, for lack of a more
elegant term, a dump. I visited Pimlico on a non Preakness day in 1984, and
found that both the facility and the surrounding neighborhood were in a state
of decay; I have read no report that would lead me to believe that this
has been reversed. My experience at Pimlico was so uninspiring that year after
year during the eighties and early nineties I gracefully resisted invitations
from friendly Baltimorons to attend the Preakness.

I do not know how long Frank Stronach and his feuding family will control some
of Racing's important properties; unfortunately the Stronach family succession
plans (if there are any) as they relate to their racetrack holdings are not
known. My proposal is that if indeed the State of Maryland "owns" the
Preakness, Frankstro should buy said rights and turn the middle leg of the
Triple Crown into the proverbial floating crap game. Part of the purchase
would be an agreement that (a) the race would still be run two weeks after the
Kentucky Derby and (b) the race would be run in Maryland (at Laurel and/or at
Pimlico in the highly unlikely (my opinion) event that Pimlico is still in
operation) at least once every three years. The other years, when the race can
be run outside of Maryland, Frank could run the Preakness at either Gulfstream
or Santa Anita. Under this proposal, Frank would retain the right to "rent"
the Preakness to other entities (not CD or NYRA, which of course each already
host one Triple Crown event) on a one year basis. I'm thinking Monmouth and
New Age Oaklawn might be interested in hosting a Triple Crown race; for the
former it would be a great way to kick off the summer; for the latter it would
be a grand way to conclude its newly expanded meet.

A second possibility is that the State of Maryland, the City of Baltimore and
Frank have a falling out, most likely over Frank's plans to turn Pimlico into
a vacant lot or a wind farm; Frank is denied the right to the "Preakness" name
and brand. No problem: Frank schedules a race at one of his venues, two weeks
after the Kentucky Derby, for 3YOs carrying 126 pounds and running for a
healthy purse. He can call the race the "Preakasus".

Right now the traditionalists' blood is boiling and Jim McKay's spirit is
having a hearty chuckle at the arthritic agony I am currently suffering
through; it would be the end of the traditional Triple Crown as we know it.
There would be hand wringing, forehead slapping, and a hue and cry to boycott
the "Fakeness". In the end, however, given a large field of mainly overrated
colts and a decent undercard, we will bet with both fists. It's what we do.