Saturday Preakness Filler

I'm a Fire Horse by birth, so it shouldn't be surprising that I have a deep and abiding love for horses. I also love horseracing, which some might find an abusive "sport", but horses love to run on principle, and these particular horses are bred for racing and pretty much only racing, and I'm not gonna quibble about the ethics and/or morality of domesticating any animal, let alone the regal horse, wild by nature.

Today is the 134th running of the Preakness Derby at Pimlico in Maryland, and I'm putting in my bet under the wire here...

WIN: Rachel Alexandra [#13]

PLACE: Pioneer Of The Nile [#9]

SHOW: Papa Clem [#7]

Mine That Bird's victory at the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago was all about jockey Calvin Borel, and in today's race, he's sitting on Rachel Alexandra, an already strong horse, so the filly's 9-5 odds make the horse the favorite today...FTW!

I'm picking Pioneer Of The Nile to PLACE for mostly because he's a beautiful horse. Of course, he finished second at this year's Kentucky Derby, and my understanding is that Garret Gomez is a good jockey.

Papa Clem will SHOW this afternoon because he's a 7-2-2-0 lifetime stalker. This colt offers value!

Hotcha! Hank