Share this
Twitter
Myspace
Digg
Del.icio.us
Reddit
Slashdot
Furl
Yahoo
Technorati
Newsvine
Facebook
Export PDF
Print
E-mail
TagsBY ERIC MODEL
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
JOURNEYS INTO NEW JERSEY
Part of horse racing's triple crown, the Preakness Stakes, has been a fixture in Maryland since 1873. Tens of thousands turn out to Baltimore's venerable Pimlico Race Track to be part of a tradition that started two years before the first Kentucky Derby. It is a place full of tradition. The whole thing is as Maryland as the Chesapeake Bay and crabs.
Little known to these Marylanders and visitors, the Preakness can look to New Jersey for its inspiration.
It all started with the Minisi, a northern New Jersey tribe of Native Americans. They called their area Pra-qua-les, meaning quail woods. After a series of spellings the name eventually evolved into Preakness.
One of its variations was Preckiness, used by General George Washington to describe the area where his troops were quartered in the winter of 1776-77. Nearly a century later, Milton H. Sanford, a thoroughbred owner, became attracted to the name. He called his farms, one in New Jersey and another in Kentucky, Preakness. His Jersey farm was located in the Indians' "quail woods."When he bought a yearling sired by Lexington and foaled by Bay Leaf from A. J. Alexander, he named the colt (bred in Kentucky at Woodburn Farm) Preakness, unaware that he was contributing to turf immortality. Preakness, the eighth foal of Bay Leaf, cost Sanford $2,000.
It was Preakness who turned up as a 3-year-old for his debut in the Dinner Party Stakes at Pimlico's inaugural in 1870. He was derided as a "cart horse" for his ungainly appearance, but won that first stakes at Old Hilltop, which became a history-producing victory.
In his triumph, Preakness was ridden by English jockey Billy Hayward, who supplied the name for one of Pimlico's present adjoining streets. It was the colt's only start in 1870 but he left a lasting impression at Pimlico. Three years later, the Maryland Jockey Club honored him by calling its newest stakes race "Preakness." The Dinner Party Stakes eventually became the present-day Dixie Handicap.
Preakness continued to race through his eight-year-old season in America. He won the Baltimore Cup, carrying 131 pounds at age eight and also finished in a dead heat with Springbok in the 1875 Saratoga Cup at 2-1/4 miles.
Later that year, Sanford sent Preakness to England. He became one of the first American horses to be given genuine recognition by the British. Eventually the Duke of Hamilton purchased Preakness from Sanford for breeding.
Meanwhile, back in Maryland the Preakness was creating a series of traditions of its own. The Kentucky Derby has "My Old Kentucky Home;" the Preakness Stakes has "Maryland, My Maryland."
Another tradition unique to the Preakness is the draping of the winning horse in a blanket of Black-Eyed Susans. Construction of the blanket has varied in method – from a loosely intertwined garland of flowers tied with hemp rope, to the current blanket type of presentation.
The current Black-Eyed Susan blanket is created shortly before Preakness Day. Three ladies work full-time for two days to complete the project. The blanket is composed of more than 80 bunches of Viking daisies. A perforated spongy rubber matte is used as the base.
Attached to this matte is a layer of greenery. The flowers are strung together on flocked wire and interwoven into the holes in the matte.
This makes the flowers and the matte flexible. The ends of the wire are snipped closely and the whole back of the blanket is covered with thick felt, so it will lay softly on the winner's withers.
The blanket is 18 inches wide and 90 inches in length.
Upon completion, the center of the daisies are daubed with black lacquer to recreate the appearance of a Black-Eyed Susan. The blanket is then sprayed with water and refrigerated until Preakness Day, when it is delivered to the track, to be worn by the Preakness winner.
Black-Eyed Susans, declared the state flower by the Maryland legislature in 1918 and the Preakness flower in 1940, do not bloom until June in Maryland. It is said the Susan's flower usually has 13 petals, which is taken to symbolize the 13 original colonies, of which Maryland was one. The flower reproduces the state's black and yellow colors.
Then there is the famed and historic weather vane, a Preakness tradition since 1909.
Here, in the words of the official Preakness site, is a description of this tradition: "As soon as the Preakness winner has been declared official, a painter climbs a ladder to the top of a replica of the Old Clubhouse cupola. He applies the colors of the victorious owner's silks on the jockey and horse which are part of the weather vane atop the infield structure."
Back in 1909 a horse and rider weather vane sat at the top of the old Members' Clubhouse, which was constructed at the opening of Pimlico in 1870. That building was destroyed by fire in June 1966, and a replica of the old building's cupola (a small structure on top of a roof or building) was built to stand in the Preakness winner's circle in the infield.
Back in New Jersey, the closest race track to the Preakness section of Wayne is the Meadowlands Race Track. But the name endures near the Hamburg Turnpike with the likes of Preakness Hills Country Club, Preakness Realty, Preakness Shopping Center, Preakness Health Care Center, Preakness Limo, Preakness Reform Church, Preakness Movers, and Preakness Chevrolet. Though not many think of it, this unique connection between this section of Passaic County and a section of Baltimore persists.
Eric Model explores the "offbeat, off the beaten path overlooked and forgotten" on SIRIUS-XM Radio and at journeysinto.com.
