Pimlico - Spring Stakes Schedule

The Maryland Jockey Club released the 2007 Pimlico spring stakes schedule today.

The 31-day meeting starts April 19 and runs through June 9. The headline event of the eight-week meet is the 132nd running of the $1 million Preakness Stakes presented by "The Bug Boys" (just kidding), on May 19.

The meet will feature 26 stakes races for purses of almost $4 million. Fourteen of the added-money races are slated for Preakness week, including nine on Preakness day. The opening Saturday of the spring meet, April 21, features five stakes races and showcases Maryland-bred and Maryland-sired horses.

The May 18 card will feature five stakes races for fillies and mares, including the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (gr. II), the Allaire duPont Breeders’ Cup Distaff, which was upgraded from grade III to grade II status, and the Adena Stallions’ Miss Preakness (gr. III).

The Maryland Jockey Club announced Dec. 20 that it had changed the name of the Sir Barton Stakes to the Barbaro Stakes. The mile and a sixteenth test for three-year-olds is one of eight added-money races on the Preakness undercard.

Other changes to the stakes schedule include: discontinuation of the Jim McKay Breeders’ Cup Handicap; name change of Hoover Stakes to Jim McKay Sprint; name change of Baltimore Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint to Baltimore City Turf Sprint; addition of the Whimsical Stakes to the May 18 card; and distance changes of Woodlawn Stakes (1 1/16th mile turf to one-mile turf), Hilltop Stakes (1 1/16th mile turf to one-mile turf), and Xtra Heat Stakes (five furlongs to 5 1/2 furlongs).

Enjoy it while you can....Only 31 day of racing this year, with no Pimlico Special. Who knows what cuts will be made next year. Hell, we may not even have any horse racing in Maryland next spring