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Nelson Dunstan REFLECTIONS Bv Nelson Dunsran Preakness at Pimlico Saturday Only Five Triple Crown7 Winners Derby Form Reversals Not Unusual Wood lawn Vase Is Coveted Trophy BALTIMORE Md May 1 Preakness shorts Only one Pimlico Futurity winner Challedon went on to win the Preakness Count Fleet defeated Occupation and Vincentive in last years Futurity One of the oldest Pimlico Preakness traditions is to paint the weather vane atop the clubhouse in the colors of the new winning owner The first Preakness renewal carrying provision for supplementary entries was in 1938 Cloverbrook 1877 was the first Marylandowned and bred Preakness winner Returning 4560 for 2 Coventry 1925 was the longestpriced winner of the Mary ¬ land classic The average number of Preakness starters over a 50year period is eight For many years the winner was covered with a blanket of roses but now the ceremony calls for blackeyed Susans official state glower of Maryland It was not the Preakness as often said but the 1877 Baltimore Sweepstakes at Pimlico for which Congress adjourned Promptly after the Preakness running a case of champagne is sent to the barn of the winning owner Pimlicos famous double is the Dixie and Preakness and four horses have won both in the same year Only one imported horse War Cloud has ever won a Preakness renewal The greatest amount won by a winner was the 60000 garnered by Victorian in 1928 Maryland My Maryland was the tune for the song Challedon My Challedon when the Brann champion won in 1939 The second leg of the Triple Crown the Preakness is also tlie second ot tne tnree xamous events lor inreeyear The Belmont Stakes was inaugurated in 1867 the Preakness in 1873 and the Kentucky Derby in 1875 All three events had modett beginnings as to purse values Yet famous horses competed for them the Duke of Magenta winning but 2100 in 1878 and The BarcJ 52050 in 1886 The first horse to win the Triple Crown Derby Preakness and Belmont was Sir Barton and he too was the first to be rewarded with a Preakness purse of over 520000 his owner J K L Ross being enriched by 524500 When Gallant Fox duplicated the triple feat in 1930 the Preakness prize was 551925 but when his son Omaha emulated his daddy in 1935 the Pimlico event was worth but 525325 to the winner Two years later when War Admiral won all three races he rewarded Samuel D Riddle with 545600 In 1941 another Triple Crown winner was to electrify racing fans and he was the Calumet champion Vhirlaway who was to earn 549365 and was then to go on to an earning record never before attained by any horse the world over overTriple Triple Crown winners were nofc the only good horses to grace the Preakness roster It has been the medium of many thrilling duels and eyewitnesses will never forget the renewal of 1937 when War Admiral and Pompoon fought it out to the wire In the spring of the year War Admiral appeared to be in a class by himself He won the Derby from Pompoon by almost two lengths But at Pimlico he was to get the fight of his life for in the stretch Pompoon challenged time and again Down the strip they fought every inch of the way with War Admirals nose in front at the finish line Derby winners are riot always Preakness winners however In 1938 Lawrhwon the Derby from Dauber but with Lawrin out Dauber was the Preakness winner In 1939 Johnstown defeated Challedon in the Derby by eight lengths but back on his home grounds the Marylandowned champion ran powerfully to turn the tables with Johnstown out of the money There was a reversal again in 1940 when Bimelech had revenge on Gallahadion Whirlaway won both the Derby and Preakness in 1941 but in 1942 Alsab who had been defeated by Shut Out in the Derby came back to score in his first major race of the season as he reversed the decision on his Greentree rival Prior to 1889 the Preakness distance was one and onehalf miles It was changed to various distances after that For years now it has been at one and threesixteenths miles and the fastest time at that distance is the 158 registered by High Quest when he won from Cavalcade and Discovery in 1934 Yet although Pompoon was defeated by War Admiral in 1937 in 158 Pompoon holds the one and threesixteenths miles record at Pimlico l56s even though Seabiscuit is officially credited with 156 It may sound confusing but it is not so when we consider that the Dixie Handicap and Pimlico Special are also run at one and threesixteenths miles In the Dixie of 1938 Pompoon carrying 118 defeated Busy K in IzSGls Whirlaway came within onefifth of a second of that mark last year when carrying 128 pounds he defeated Attention and Mioland in 157 Seabiscuits 156 is not considered the track record for he established that time in the nevertobeforgotten War Admiral match race in 1938 but from a walkup start It is now carried on the books but officially Pompoons 156 j is the track record having been made from the gate And it is going to take an extremely fast horse to lower it The oldest turf trophy in existence is the famous Woodlawn Vase which was won by Thomas Clyde in 1904 and presented to the Maryland Jockey Club as a perr petual Preakness trophy in 1917 Made in 1860 by Tiffany for R A Alexander owner of Woodburn the greatest Kentucky breeding farm in the Civil War era it is steeped in early history During the war it was buried on the farm with the Alexander silverware When the Woodburn horses were dispersed in 1897 the Woodlawn Vase passed to other hands But it has ever been a turf trophy and contested for at many tracks In 1904 Thomas Clyde won it at the old Coney Island track Ornately beautiful parts of it have been copied by silversmiths designing turf trophies But with each year it became more valuable and especially so since it became the symbol of a Preakness victory Each year the owner passes it back to the Maryland Jockey Club but retains the small replica as a permanent possession Like the Americas Cup it is kept in Tiffany vaults from Preakness to Preakness but on the day of the race is exhibited in the historic and mellowed Pimlico clubhouse It is insured for a greater sum than the famed Ascot Gold Cup
