"ALL SYSTEMS GO" AS OF NOW FOR SMARTY JONES'S PREAKNESS BID

John Servis, trainer of Kentucky Derby winner Smarty Jones, said on an NTRA national teleconference today that he is watching Smarty Jones closely and will only run his colt in the May 15 Preakness Stakes in Baltimore if his horse is "110 percent" ready. But so far things look good.

"All systems are go right now," said Servis. "There is concern over what the Triple Crown races take out of a horse, but he's been sound and keeping his weight. I'm watching him with a microscope. It would be great to win the Triple Crown, but if he's not right he won't run."

The plan, assuming all goes well, is for Smarty Jones to ship from his home base at Philadelphia Park to Pimlico in Baltimore either next Wednesday or Thursday. The undefeated colt paid his first visit to the racetrack since his Derby win when he jogged at Philadelphia Park yesterday morning.

"We might come Wednesday afternoon for convenience because the draw is that night," said Servis, who will throw out the first pitch at next Friday's Orioles-Angels game. "I'm not going to do a whole lot with him. The Preakness is right back in two weeks. I'm just concentrating on keeping him happy."

Three horses who finished behind Smarty Jones in Kentucky are pointing to the Preakness: runner-up Lion Heart, The Cliff's Edge and Borrego. Third place finisher Imperialism, who was ruled out on Sunday morning, is now being considered for the Preakness as owner Steve Taub and trainer Kristin Mulhall have reserved a spot on a flight next Tuesday from Los Angeles.

"The reservation was made just in case," said Taub. "We will not know a thing until this weekend. The door is not closed, the door is not open. There is a possibility the horse will run in the Preakness, but he will be the dictator."

Three accomplished new shooters are expected to challenge as well: Eddington, Rock Hard Ten and Water Cannon. In the last 50 years only six horses that missed the Kentucky Derby have won the Preakness: Greek Money (1962), Bee Bee Bee (1972), Codex (1980), Aloma's Ruler (1982), Deputed Testamony (1983) and Red Bullet (2000).

Trainer Jason Orman has confirmed that Hall of Fame rider Gary Stevens will ride Rock Hard Ten in the middle jewel of the Visa Triple Crown. The two-time winner of the Preakness is a perfect two-for-two aboard the son of Kris S.

Eddington will work at Belmont Park on Saturday morning and is scheduled to ship to the Pimlico stakes barn on Wednesday. "He's training super right now," said conditioner Mark Hennig. "He came out of his work last Saturday real well and everything is right on schedule. This horse had been running every three weeks this winter, so I don't feel that missing the Derby will be detrimental. It will probably be more of an advantage."

SMARTY JONES MAKES COVER OF SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

In the wake of his popular Kentucky Derby win last Saturday, Smarty Jones adorns the cover of this week's Sports Illustrated. He is the first horseracing subject to make the magazine's cover since Julie Krone appeared on it in 1989. The last Kentucky Derby winner to make the following week's cover was Sunny's Halo way back in 1983.

SMARTY JONES BREAKS THE BANK AT OAKLAWN PARK

And we're not talking about the $5 million bonus.

Not only did a crowd of more than 7,000 at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., rejoice as their adopted racing hero, Smarty Jones, rolled to victory in the Kentucky Derby, they also made lots of money at the wagering windows, necessitating some hasty action on the part of Oaklawn officials.

Yes Smarty Jones's victories in the Rebel Stakes, Arkansas Derby and Kentucky Derby won his owners the $5 million Oaklawn Centennial Bonus. But the Pennsylvania-bred also treated the majority of Oaklawn's patrons well, returning payoffs of $10.20 to win, $6.20 to place and $4.80 to show. Fortunately for Oaklawn patrons, all wagers were commingled into nationwide betting pools. So many people at Oaklawn had their money on Smarty Jones that had wagers not been commingled, the payoffs would have been much smaller. And as it was, Oaklawn did not have enough cash on hand to pay all of its winners in cash.

After the Derby, Oaklawn had $691,000 on hand to pay off the winners, but the winners held tickets worth $2,619,000. Simulcast venues routinely make subsequent adjustments with the host tracks to settle up the differences that inevitably occur when patrons come out ahead or behind. But the scene at Oaklawn last Saturday was truly incredible.

"I've never seen the adjustment figure play out to Oaklawn players' advantage anywhere near this before," noted Oaklawn Park Simulcast and Mutuels Manager Bobby Geiger. "And we'll probably never see it again, since we're not likely to see a $10 win mutuel on Smarty again."

"The majority of people who bet on Smarty Jones were at Oaklawn Park," beamed General Manager Eric Jackson, in the aftermath of Kentucky Derby day. "We don't keep that kind of money on hand during the simulcast season and we couldn't go to the bank that night."

Oaklawn was busily writing checks for large payoffs on Derby Day to keep its winning patrons happy. In the final analysis, Oaklawn players won over $1.9 million more than they started with.

What would the pari-mutuel payoff on Smarty Jones have been at Oaklawn if wagers hadn't been commingled?

"If this were the old days," said Geiger, "when tracks just made their own pools and didn't merge with the host track, at Oaklawn the win mutuel on Smarty Jones would have been $2.20 and there would have been a minus pool of over $60,000."

$2.20 is the Arkansas state-mandated minimum payoff on all winning $2.00 horseracing wagers.

MAY 14 PIMLICO SPECIAL SHAPING UP AS HUGE RACE

Four Grade I winners and the horse who has posted the best Beyer Speed Figure of the year are expected to compete at Pimlico in the $500,000 Pimlico Special on May 14, the day before the Preakness. Funny Cide, the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, will be one of the favorites but he is sure to face stiff challenges from Midway Road who won Keeneland's Ben Ali Stakes in a romp last time out, earning a stratospheric 123 Beyer Figure; Santa Anita Handicap winner Southern Image and recent San Bernardino Handicap winner Dynever.

BEYER SPEED FIGURES HOLD UP AGAIN IN DERBY 130

In trying to select the winner of the Kentucky Derby, a historical trend that is particularly strong, but often overlooked, is the angle that a horse needs to have posted at least a 105 Beyer Speed Figure at some point during his three-year-old season to be considered a solid contender. This year's Kentucky Derby winner Smarty Jones was one of a handful to fit this pattern by running a 107 and 108 in consecutive starts earlier in the year at Oaklawn Park. His victory in the Run for the Roses marked the 11th time in the 13 years since the Beyer Figures have been printed in Daily Racing Form that the Derby winner had met the prerequisite 105 Beyer benchmark entering the Derby.

"I was particularly gratified by the outcome of the Derby because there had been so much second-guessing about the low figures for the Wood Memorial and Florida Derby," said Andrew Beyer, creator of Beyer Speed Figures. "The horses coming out of those races did nothing Saturday."

Smarty Jones earned a 107 Beyer Figure for his winning Derby effort.

May 8 Wire to Wire, 5:30-6:00 a.m., ESPN
May 12 SportsCenter at the Preakness Post Position Draw; 5:00-6:00 p.m.; ESPN
May 13 Wire to Wire at the Preakness, 2:00-3:00 p.m., ESPN2
May 14 2Day at Pimlico; Pimlico Breeders' Cup Distaff Handicap and Adena Stallions' Miss Preakness Stakes (Pimlico); 3:30-5:00 p.m., ESPN2
May 14 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes and Pimlico Special Handicap (Pimlico), 5:00-6:00 p.m., ESPN
May 14 Handicapping the Preakness, 6:00-6:30 p.m., ESPN2
May 15 Wire to Wire, 5:30-6:00 a.m., ESPN
May 15 Breakfast at Pimlico, 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m., ESPN2
May 15 2Day at the Preakness; Woodlawn Stakes and Hirsch Jacobs Stakes (Pimlico); 12:00-2:00 p.m., ESPN2
May 15 Preakness Special; Gallorette Handicap, Maryland Breeders' Cup Handicap, Sir Barton Stakes, Argent Dixie Stakes (Pimlico); 2:00-5:00 p.m., ESPN
May 15 Preakness Stakes (Pimlico), 5:00-6:30 p.m., NBC
May 18 Wire to Wire, 2:00-2:30 p.m., ESPN2

May 6, 1895: African American jockey James "Soup" Perkins guided the favorite Halma to a wire-to-wire victory in the 21st running of the Kentucky Derby. Perkins, who was 15, joined fellow African American jockey Alonzo Clayton as the youngest jockey to ride a Derby winner.

May 6, 1896: African American jockey Willie Simms guided Ben Brush to victory in the 22nd Kentucky Derby, the first time the race was run at 1 1/4 miles. Two years later, Simms would win the Derby aboard Plaudit, giving him a perfect record in the Kentucky Derby: two wins in two attempts.

May 6, 1933: In the "fighting finish" to the Kentucky Derby—before the advent of photo-finish cameras and video patrol—jockey Don Meade on Brokers Tip, and Herb Fisher, on Head Play, pushed, hit, tugged and jostled each other to the finish line at Churchill Downs. Brokers Tip was declared the winner, by a margin of two or three inches.

May 6, 2000: Fusaichi Pegasus, a $4 million yearling purchase, became the first favorite to win the Kentucky Derby in 21 years with his convincing win over Aptitude.  Spectacular Bid in 1979 was the previous favorite to win the "Run for the Roses."

May 7, 1938: The Kentucky Derby Glass made its debut. First used as a water glass for the track restaurant, the mint julep glass has been a part of the Derby tradition for more than 50 years.

May 7, 1949: Calumet Farm's Ponder won the 75th Kentucky Derby, which was first telecast on a limited basis by local TV station WAVE.

May 7, 1973: Secretariat was flown to Pimlico Racecourse to prepare for the Preakness Stakes after his record-breaking performance in the Kentucky Derby.

May 7, 1983: Aboard Sunny's Halo, jockey Eddie Delahoussaye became the last rider to win consecutive Kentucky Derbies. Other riders to have won back-to-back Derbies are: Isaac Murphy, Ron Turcotte and James Winkfield.

May 7, 1988: Winning Colors, the first roan and the third filly to win the Kentucky Derby, provided trainer D. Wayne Lukas with his first Derby win in 13 attempts.

May 7, 1992: Hall of Fame jockey Angel Cordero Jr. announced his retirement from race riding.

May 7, 2001: Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas saddled his 4,000th career winner, scoring with Added Spice in the ninth race at Delaware Park. Lukas's mark put him behind only Dale Baird (8,479 wins), Jack Van Berg (6,300) and King Leatherbury (5,190).

May 7, 2002: Seattle Slew, the last surviving Triple Crown winner, died at Hill ‘N Dale Farm in Lexington, Ky., at age 28. Seattle Slew's death came on the 25th anniversary of his Kentucky Derby victory.

May 8, 1901: David Garrick, owned by American Pierre Lorillard, won the Chester Cup in England, under the guidance of American jockey Danny Maher.

May 8, 1915: H.P. Whitney's Regret became the first filly to win the Kentucky Derby, 40 years after the race's inception in 1875.

May 8, 1937: Mary Hirsch, daughter of Max Hirsch, who had conditioned 1936 Kentucky Derby winner Bold Venture, became the first woman trainer to saddle a runner in the Kentucky Derby. The horse, No Sir, who was also owned by Miss Hirsch, finished 13th in a field of 20.

May 9, 1945: The wartime government ban on horse racing in the United States was lifted.

May 9, 1982: Jockey Chris McCarron won his 3,000th career race, aboard Aggrandizement, in the ninth race at Hollywood Park.

May 10, 1842: Fashion, representing the North, competed against Boston, representing the South, in a match race at Union Course. Described by contemporaries as the best race ever run in America, with $20,000 put up on each side, the match was won by Fashion before a crowd estimated between 50,000 and 70,000.

May 10, 1910: George Woolf, namesake of a jockey's award given annually by Santa Anita Park, was born in Cardston, Alberta.

May 10, 1919: Sir Barton won the Kentucky Derby after being winless in six tries. Four days later, on May 14, he won the Preakness Stakes, and on June 11, he became the first Triple Crown winner after capturing the Belmont Stakes.

May 10, 2001: According to figures released by Nielsen Media Research, television ratings for the 2001 Kentucky Derby were 8.1 with a 21 share. The ratings represented a 40% increase over the 5.8 rating and 17 share earned by the 2000 Derby.

May 11, 1888: Trainer Robert Walden set the record for the most number of Preakness winners—seven—when he sent Refund to victory.

May 11, 1892: African American jockey Alonzo Clayton, age 15, became the youngest rider to win the Kentucky Derby when he guided Azra to victory in the 18th running of the Derby.

May 11, 1935: Trainer "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons sent a two-year-old colt, White Cockade, to victory in the Youthful Stakes at Jamaica, giving his 26-year-old owner, Ogden Phipps, his first stakes win ever.

May 12, 1909: The Preakness Stakes was held in Maryland after 16 runnings in New York. As part of the celebration that marked the return of the Preakness, the colors of the race's winner were painted onto the ornamental weathervane at Pimlico Racecourse for the first time.

May 12, 1917: Omar Khayyam became the first foreign-bred horse to win the Kentucky Derby. He was bred in England.

May 12, 1924: Nellie Morse became the fourth and last filly to win the Preakness Stakes. Other fillies to win the Preakness were Flocarline (1903); Whimsical (1906); and Rhine Maiden (1915).

May 12, 1936: Jockey Ralph Neves was involved in a racing accident at Bay Meadows and erroneously pronounced dead. He was later revived at the morgue and he returned to the racetrack the same day. He was ordered to sit out the remainder of the racing card and so missed only a half-day of work because of his "death."

May 12, 1990: D. Wayne Lukas became the first trainer to top $100 million in purses when he sent Calumet Farm's Criminal Type to win the Pimlico Special at Pimlico Racecourse.

May 13, 1845: The Great Sectional Match, the North versus the South, was run at Union Course in New York. Fashion, representing the North, raced against the South's Peytona in a match race won by Peytona. Three years earlier, Fashion had defeated Boston, who represented the South, in another North-South rivalry.

May 13, 1891: Kingman, the only African American-owned horse to win the Derby, did so with jockey Isaac Murphy in the irons. Kingman was owned and trained by African American Dudley Allen. The win gave jockey Isaac Murphy back-to-back Derby victories and made him the first jockey to win three Derbies.

May 13, 1939: Louis Schaefer became the first person to have ridden and trained a Preakness Stakes winner after he saddled Challedon to victory. Schaefer won the 1929 Preakness as a jockey, riding Dr. Freeland. Schaefer's double was replicated by jockey-turned-trainer John Longden, who rode Count Fleet in the 1943 Preakness and trained Majestic Prince to win the race in 1969.

May 13, 1973: Secretariat worked five furlongs in :57 2/5 at Pimlico Racecourse in preparation for the May 19 Preakness Stakes. He was eased after completing his workout distance, but still ran six furlongs in 1:10.

May 14, 1989: E.P. Taylor, owner of Windfields Farms and breeder of Northern Dancer, died at age 88.

May 14, 2000: Arlington Ipark in Arlington Heights, Ill., re-opened its gates to racing after being closed for two-years, welcoming a crowd of 35,273.

May 15, 1918: Two horses—War Cloud and Jack Hare Jr.—were declared the winner of the Preakness Stakes, not because of a dead heat, but because the race was run in two divisions.

May 15, 1952: John Longden won his 4,000th  victory, riding at Hollywood Park.

May 15, 1954: Nashua won his first race, running 4 ½  furlongs over a straightaway at Belmont Park.

May 15, 1993: Genuine Risk, the second of three fillies to have won the Kentucky Derby since it began in 1875, gave birth to her first foal after 13 years of failed attempts and miscarriages. The foal, a son of Rahy, was named Genuine Reward.

May 15, 1999: Charismatic, winner of the 1999 Kentucky Derby, won the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Racecourse in front a record crowd of  100,311.

May 16, 1884: Buchanan became the first maiden to win the Kentucky Derby. Only two other maiden horses have gone on to win the Run for the Roses: Sir Barton in 1919, and Brokers Tip in 1933.

May 16, 1925: The first network radio broadcast of the Kentucky Derby aired from WHAS in Louisville.

May 16, 1979: Gary Stevens rode his first career winner, named Lil Star, trained by his father, Ron Stevens, at Les Bois Park.

May 16, 1998: Bob Baffert became the first person to train Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winners in successive years. In 1997, Baffert won the Derby and Preakness with Silver Charm; the following year, he won with Real Quiet.

May 16, 1998: During Preakness Stakes Day at Pimlico Racecourse, a transformer went down at 1:00 p.m., causing a power failure in the grandstand. With temperatures in the 90s, the facility had no operating air-conditioning, lights, closed-circuit television, public address system, elevators, escalators or betting windows. A record crowd of 91,122 was on hand and an estimated $1.5 million in on-track handle was lost.

May 17, 1875: America's oldest continuously held sporting event, the Kentucky Derby, was first run. The race was won by Aristides, who was ridden and trained by African Americans Oliver Lewis and Ansel Williamson, respectively. The day marked the opening of Churchill Downs; an estimated 10,000 spectators witnessed the first Derby.

May 17, 1881: James Rowe Sr., then age 24, became the youngest trainer to saddle a Kentucky Derby winner after Hindoo took the 7th Derby for his owners, brothers Phil and Mike Dwyer, both notorious gamblers.

May 17, 1915: Rhine Maiden, in winning the Preakness Stakes, produced the only Kentucky Derby-Preakness wins by fillies in the same year. The 1915 Derby was won by Regret, who did not compete in the Preakness.

May 17, 1930: Two-year-old Equipoise gave owner C.V. Whitney his first stakes victory when he captured the Keene Memorial Stakes at Belmont Park at odds of 3-5.

May 17, 1947: Seabiscuit, owned by Charles S. Howard, succumbed to a heart attack at Ridgewood Ranch in Willits, Calif. He was 14.

May 17, 1976: Sixteen-year-old Steve Cauthen rode his first winner, Thomas Bischoff-trained Red Pipe, in the eighth race at River Downs. By the end of his first year of apprenticeship, Cauthen had won 240 races from 1,170 mounts and $1.2 million in purses.

May 18, 1931: Fifteen-year-old Eddie Arcaro rode his first race, finishing sixth, at Bainbridge Park, Ohio. At year's end, he remained winless after 36 tries.

May 18, 1935: The Seagram family won the Queen's Plate stakes (then called the King's Plate), a record 20th time. From 1891-1898, the Seagrams' horses won the Plate every year.

May 18, 1957: Eddie Arcaro set the record for most number of Preakness Stakes wins by a jockey, six, when he rode Bold Ruler to victory for Wheatley Stable.

May 18, 1968: Judy Johnson became the first female trainer to saddle a horse for the Preakness Stakes. Her horse, Sir Beau, finished seventh in a field of 10.

May 18, 1968: Calumet Farm set the record for most number of wins in the Preakness Stakes by an owner, seven, when Forward Pass won the race by six lengths.

May 18, 1985: Patricia Cooksey became the first female jockey to compete in the Preakness Stakes. Her mount, Tajawa, finished sixth in a field of 11.

May 18, 1996: Jockey Pat Day won his third consecutive Preakness Stakes and his fifth Preakness overall, after riding Louis Quatorze to victory. The win, for trainer Nick Zito, snapped the Triple Crown race win-streak of trainer D. Wayne Lukas, which had run to six, beginning with the 1994 Preakness, won by Tabasco Cat.

May 18, 1998: Trainer Aimee Hall saddled four winners from five starters at Suffolk Downs, with all of the winners being ridden by her husband, Jose Caraballo. The wins are believed to be the first involving a married couple as jockey and trainer.

May 18, 2000: The NTRA and Breeders' Cup Ltd., was given preliminary approval for a consolidation plan under which all business, marketing and administrative duties of the two organizations would be combined.

May 19, 1961: Jockey Bill Shoemaker notched his 4,000th career win aboard Guaranteeya at Hollywood Park.

May 19, 1964: Jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. won his first race, aboard Huelen, riding at Presidente Remon in Panama.

May 19, 1973: Secretariat's winning performance in the Preakness Stakes was marred by a controversy over the timing of the race. The original teletimer time was 1:55 for the 1 3/16-mile race; Pimlico amended it to 1:54 2/5 two days later.

May 19, 1999: Secretariat was honored as the 35th greatest athlete of the 20th Century by ESPN's SportsCentury, a series of programs profiling the top athletes of the past 100 years. Secretariat was the only non-human to make the top 50.

May 19, 2001: Beaten Kentucky Derby favorite Point Given redeemed himself by winning the Preakness Stakes today by 2 ¼ lengths in a time of 1:55 2/5 for the mile and three-sixteenths. A P Valentine was second and Congaree finished third. Monarchos, the Kentucky Derby winner, finished a well-beaten sixth.

Jim Murray Memorial Handicap, 3&up, $350,000, 1 1-2M (T), Hollywood Park
Nassau County Breeders' Cup Stakes, 3yo fillies, $200,000, Grade II, 7F, Belmont Park
Mervyn LeRoy Handicap, 3&up, $150,000, Grade II, 1 1-16M, Hollywood Park
Los Angeles Times Handicap, 3&up, $150,000, Grade III, 6F, Hollywood Park
Yerba Buena Breeders' Cup Handicap, 3&up (f&m), $150,000, Grade III, 1 1-8M (T), Bay Meadows
Bold Ruler Handicap, 3&up, $100,000, Grade III, 6F, Aqueduct
Iroquois Steeplechase, 4&up, $100,000, Grade I, 3M (Steeplechase), Percy Warner Park
Matt Winn Stakes, 3yo, $100,000, 6F, Churchill Downs
Carterista Handicap, 3&up, $75,000, 1 1-16M (T), Calder
Ford Express Stakes, 3&up, $75,000, 6F, Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie

Vanity Handicap, 3&up (f&m), $250,000, Grade I, 1 1-8M, Hollywood Park
Genuine Risk Handicap, 3&up (f&m), $150,000, Grade II, 6F, Belmont Park

Hancock County Handicap, 3&up (f&m), $75,000, 5F, Mountaineer Park