Sunrise At Old Hilltop « Pick6Blog.com

14
May/100

Sunrise At Old Hilltop

My fiancee Stacy and I crawled out of bed at 5:30 a.m. and headed to Pimlico Race Course on Thursday morning for Sunrise At Old Hilltop. For those not familiar with the annual event, Pimlico allows fans backstage access to the Preakness Stakes including a visit to the Stakes Barn. We also watched morning works and toured the facility.

First Dude out for some morning exercise at Pimlico

Stacy did a fine job working the camera and snapped more than a hundred photos. I can’t post them all here but will slowly leak them over time on this site.

For the morning workout portion of the event we got to see First Dude jogging around the Pimlico oval. He seemed full of energy Thursday and is an interesting longshot pace factor in the Preakness. His finished right behind Fly Down twice and that rival returned to easily capture the Grade 2 Dwyer Stakes last weekend. The Dale Romans trainee owns a late developing pedigree and seems to be heading in the right direction. He remains eligible for an entry level spot but can be used in the exotics at 20-1 on the morning line.

Paddy O'Prado sticks his head out at the Pimlico Stakes Barn.

After the works we took a tour of the Stakes Barn and got a glimpse of Kentucky Derby show finisher Paddy O’Prado. He was my longshot to watch in the Derby and ran a big race to finish third. He has handled synthetic, turf, and wet dirt, and I like his running style versatility. He also remains eligible for a bottom-level Allowance race but can be used underneath in Baltimore.

In addition to thoroughbreds we were treated to a visit with the Budweiser Clydesdales. The pictures do not do justice for these magnificent creatures. The New Hampshire based horses tour the country most of the year so check them out if they come to your area.

Our next adventure will take us to Black-Eyed Susan Day and my shutterbug sidekick will be at it again on Friday. Check back later in the day May 14 for my next blog.

I also wrote an article about our Thursday morning trek on Horse Racing Nation – HRN Preakness Diaries: Old Hilltop

For today’s blog of the day we look for a Black-Eyed Susan Day post and find it with Scott Wykoff’s Blog. I did a Preakness interview with WBAL Radio‘s Pete Gilbert on Thursday night and the local Baltimore station does a fine job covering the Preakness Stakes.