The Kentucky Derby Fan's Guide to the Preakness Stakes

With Kentucky Derby Winner Nyquist and Derby second-place finisher Exaggerator ranking as many oddsmakers' favorites in this weekend's Preakness Stakes, horse racing fans' attention has turned to Maryland's Pimlico Park. Here's the HerKentucky Guide to the Preakness Stakes, which will tell you everything you need to know about this weekend's race festivities!

Black-Eyed Susan Day

The day before the Preakness, Pimlico celebrates Black-Eyed Susan Day with a G2 race for 3 year-old fillies. Known as the Pimlico Oaks until 1952 when it was renamed to honor the Maryland state flower, the Black Eyed Susan Stakes serves as the second leg of the filly Triple Crown. Like the Kentucky Oaks, the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes has a charitable focus, benefitting the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance and Susan G. Komen® Maryland.

Preakness Traditions

This weekend marks the 141st running of the Preakness Stakes. Race day will start off with the annual Alibi Breakfast for trainers, jockeys, owners, and media. The crowd will sing along with Maryland's state song, Maryland, My Maryland, and sip Black-Eyed Susan cocktails. The winning owner will be given a sterling silver replica of the Woodlawn vase (The original trophy, an 1893 creation by Tiffany & Co, remains on permanent display) and the winning horse will be draped in a blanket of Black-Eyed Susans.

Preakness Fashion

While the focus on Kentucky Derby Day is high fashion, the Preakness is all about fun. I asked Bri Mott, the founder of raceday style website Fashion at the Races (and the most fashionable horse lover I know!) to describe the difference in Derby and Preakness style. Her tips? "Dressing for the Preakness Stakes is very different than the Southern Belle style of the Kentucky Derby. Preakness is known for its 'party' factor with all the crazy stories of the infield. You want to bring the party into your fashion. Bold colors and flashy prints. Less brimmed hats and more fun fascinators. It's all about the fun and you show that in your raceday style!"

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Preakness Spirits

Like the Derby's famous mint julep, the Preakness has its own signature cocktail, the Black-Eyed Susan. You can find the official recipe here, but I modified mine with homemade sour mix, Indian River Valencia orange juice, and Boteco Vodka. This is a sweet and sassy citrus-based cocktail that packs quite the punch!

Black-Eyed Susan Cocktail

• 1.5 oz vodka
• 1 oz Maker's Mark bourbon whisky
• 2 oz orange juice
• 2 oz sour mix (recipe below)
• orange slice and cherry for garnish

Combine all ingredients and serve over ice.

Homemade Sour mix

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup lemon juice, strained
• 0.5 cup lime juice, strained

Make simple syrup by bringing sugar and water to a boil. Stir to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat and let cool. Add citrus juices. Shake and use immediately or refrigerate.

Happy Preakness weekend, y'all!

This post was brought to you by The Kentucky Derby Book.

The HerKentucky Guide to Horse Race Betting

With Keeneland's Spring Meet in session and Derby just around the corner, it's time to talk betting, y'all!

There are as many ways to choose a winning horse as there are horses in the world. Do you favor the "pick a horse by his name" tactic? How about the "my favorite color is the color of the silks!" tactic? What about the old tried and true, "Always bet on the grey!" route?

Whatever way you choose the horse to cheer for, you're never wrong. Horse racing is fun to watch and is fun to wager on if you do so responsibly and in the spirit of fun.

A lot of people, though, are mystified by all the jargon surrounding wagers and intimidated by the betting window. What's an exacta? Are they in some sort of box? Handicap? Is that bad for the horse? By no means am I an expert, but I hope I can shed a little bit of light on the subject.

I grew up in a family of horse racing enthusiasts. I remember going to Ellis Park as a child with my dad and loving it - the excitement, the pretty horses, the treat my dad would buy me when his horse won the race. My 88 year old grandmother still goes to the track, regularly, both as a social outlet and as a way to earn a little "fun money" as she calls it. 

With that little bit of background, let me start with the basics. The first order of business is to buy a program when you get to the track. You can tell the serious-types by the copy of The Daily Racing Form; they have tucked under their arm. They probably bought it the night before at Kroger and have been studying. However, the Keeneland program is a great source of information. It can give you a lot of information for each race, but I generally look at the following:

• the type of race - turf or track?
• the length of the race
• the purse (prize money) for the race

The program will also tell you the following about the horse:

• the horse's name
• the jockey's name
• the trainer's name
• the owner/farm
• the color of the horse, the color of the silks and the number in the race
• past performances of the horse

There is a lot of information and knowledge to be gleaned from the program, and it can be confusing to read. If you'd like to learn more about how to read it, there's a fantastic guide at the very beginning of the program. It will explain what each little number and symbol mean. Look over it a few times and take it in.

As I said earlier, there is no wrong way to pick a horse. There are no rules. My dad would tell you he likes to study the past performances. My uncle would tell you he likes to take a look at the horses in the paddock and see who has their game face on. 

For me, wagering is a mix between sentiment and educated guessing.

Just like in other sports, I have sometimes irrational likes and dislikes. I tend to not like teams with red school colors. In horse racing, I tend to be sentimental about horses bred and trained on Kentucky farms. I also tend to like catchy or witty names, and I do almost always try to put a little money on the grey.

When I'm making educated guesses, though, I compare the type and length of race with the horse's past performances. Is this a horse's first race on turf or is the horse pushing up in race distance? Eh, I'll probably pass. I also tend to look at the purse for the current race and see what sort of purses they've raced for in the past. It's just like people races. If you'll forgive the analogy, all future Olympians probably start out on the high school track, proceed through the NCAA ranks, the national events and on to the Olympic trials. They don't start off racing against Usain Bolt (well, if they're lucky). Horses start out in small purse races. If they win, they may move up in class to larger purse races. So, take a glance at the winnings and the race purses. Are they making the jump from a low purse to a medium purse race? Maybe it's worth betting on, but the odds probably aren't in your favor.

I also take a glance at the morning line odds (printed in the program) and the live odds scrolling across the screens at the track. The odds-makers are smarter than me. If I want to win, I bet on favorites. If I want to win big, I bet on medium- to long-shots.

The thing that can trump all of these educated guesses, though, are the conditions. Be sure to check the big board in the infield where the track conditions will be listed. Sloppy track conditions often make for big payout days! Bet on the longshot and you could win big!

So, I've narrowed down the field to a few horses that I'm interested in placing a wager on. My program looks like a first draft after the editor's gotten hold of it - notes in the margins, Xs over the horses who have scratched (dropped out of the race), etc. I know which horses I'd like to bet on. Now, what kind of bet should I place?

Betting amounts are always a personal preference, but a $2 bet is the standard and is what the payouts on the board will reflect.

A quick discussion about how to word your bet at the window. There are signs that explain this but you generally should say, "Hi! I'd like to place a bet on Race #__ at Keeneland. I'd like $__ on horse #__ to [insert type of bet]."

Your basic bet is Win, Place or Show. If you think a horse can win, you can put $2 on the horse to Win (you'd say, "$2 on horse 7 to Win"). In a Win bet, you will only win your bet if your horse does, in fact, win the race. Since "Place" is really Second Place, you're wagering that the horse will at least come in second. A "Show" bet is for the horse to come in somewhere in the top three. This is interesting when it comes to payouts. If you bet a horse to Show, but it ends up winning, you'll still win some money back. However, it will be less than if you had bet the horse to win outright. Does that make sense? In a nutshell:

• $2 on a horse to Win - pays out only if the horse wins the race
• $2 on a horse to Place - pays out if the horse wins or comes in second (less money than a win)
• $2 on a horse to Show - pays out if the horse finishes in the top three (least payout of these three types of bets)

You might hear people saying that they are betting horses "Across the Board." That sounds fancy, huh? Basically, it is an easy way of making three bets at once. If you say, "I'd like $2 on horse 5 across the board," you've actually made a $2 bet to win, a $2 bet to place and a $2 bet to show. This bet would cost you $6, but your odds of a higher payout have increased. If your chosen horse has heard you cheering hard enough and wins the race, you'll receive the money shown on the board for Win, Place and Show. It's really fun to do this!

There are many bets that are more complicated. These involve picking more than one horse and are called exotics. Basically, there are an Exacta, a Trifecta and a Superfecta. An exacta bet is when you choose two horses to finish first and second. A trifecta is when you choose three horses to finish first, second and third. A superfecta, you guessed it, is picking the top four finishing horses. One very key thing to note - in plain ol' exactas, trifectas and superfectas, your horses must finish in the order you say they'll finish or you don't win. It really stinks when your horses might all finish in the top, but not in the order you specified. To get around this, you can "box" the bet so that any combination of your horses in the right finishing places will win you some money. To box the bet is more expensive, but it could save some heartbreak!

Betting the exotics can be confusing when it comes to knowing what to say. Basically, take your time when placing a bet. To place a straight exacta bet, you would say, "$2 Exacta on horses x & y." It is similar for a Trifecta - "$2 Trifecta on horses x, y,  z." For a Superfecta, you name four horses. To box it, simply say "Exacta/Trifecta/Superfect box."

Exotics can also get expensive rather quickly. You will basically have to pay your bet amount (in the case above, $2) for each combination you are betting on. So, a straight Exacta is a bet on one horse to come in first and another horse to come in second. That's one bet and will cost two dollars. What if you want to box it, though, so your horses can come in any order? Two combinations. $2 x 2 = $4 A $2 Trifecta box is really six combinations, so will cost you $12. Superfectas are even more! I would suggest betting a $1 Superfecta Box just for fun. It will cost you $24 - more than I'm willing to idly spend on one race on a fun day at the track.

Exotics can be expensive but can be lots of fun when your educated guessing happens to be right! My husband and I once placed a last-minute Trifecta bet (boxed) for $12 and walked away with nearly $600! That's fun any way you slice it. Just for fun-facts-sharing-time, the trifecta in the 2005 Kentucky Derby (Giacomo, Closing Argument and Afleet Alex) paid $133,000 on a $24 bet! I'd wager that there's someone out there who is a lawyer, a Sting fan (he owned Giacomo) and has a son named Alex who just might have hit that one! 

Going to the track is fun if you're just there to people watch. If you manage to people watch, place a few bets and win a couple of dollars (or at least enough to cover your bar tab and taxi fare), then you've had a great day! 

Good luck, and Go, Baby, Go!

What to Wear to Keeneland's Paddock

Keeneland is one of my very favorite things about the Bluegrass State, y'all. The races, the crowd, the fashion, the bread pudding... it's all pretty wonderful.

Some folks have told me, though, that the dress code is a little intimidating. So, the next few days' posts will focus on decoding the Keeneland dress code. First up, the lower levels.

If you're going to stay near the Paddock --General Admission, Grandstand, or Equestrian Room-- there's no need to dress up very much.  Guys often opt for khakis and polo shirts, and women can wear slacks. You're actually dressing for a horse race in these sections.  These are the areas nearest the track itself, and people are truly there to watch (and bet on) the horses. With that said, don't be surprised to see a lot of dresses and sport coats in the lower-levels.  In recent years, a culture of dressy tailgating (think Steeplechase) has popped up among college students and twenty-somethings, and the second floor (General Admission) Sports Bar often resembles a campus bar or fraternity semi-formal; while the dress code says "casual", there's plenty of Vineyard Vines ties and Lilly Pulitzer to be seen. 

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Keep it classic and preppy with a Lilly Pulitzer dress from the Peppermint Palm and Jack Rogers sandals from Monkees of Lexington. Your beau can't go wrong with a Vineyard Vines tie from Country Club Prep. Don't forget your sunglasses, a cup of water, and a good dose of sunscreen if you're hanging around the Paddock or a tailgate; it's really easy to wind up dehydrated or sunburned! Check in tomorrow for a guide to the dining rooms' dress code.

Shop The Look: Keeneland's Paddock and Tailgating

Stay comfortable, look cute, and enjoy your day at the races!

The HerKentucky Guide to Simple Keeneland Wagers

It's HERE!

Keeneland's Fall Meet has ARRIVED!

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You're going, right? Of course you're going. We only get to do this in April and October. Get up, get dressed, and go take part in one of the best parts of living around here. (Yes, I'm basically a walking, talking Keeneland commercial whenever meets are in session. I love it that much.)

When I talk to someone who's visited Lexington and not been to Keeneland, I'm sad. When I talk to someone who lives near Lexington and hasn't been? Words cannot describe my devastation. I recently met a girl who told me she's lived in Lexington for eight years and never been to Keeneland. Not once! 

Even if you don't care a bit about horse racing, go for the sheer excitement of it. See the horses. Enjoy the atmosphere. Most of all, experience the glory that is Keeneland, one of the most beautiful racetracks in the country.

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My friend told me she's never been to Keeneland because she doesn't know how to bet on the races. This, my friends, is no excuse. First, any one of the tellers at the betting stations will happily help you through your bet (trust me, they've helped me with several); and secondly, I'm about to give you a quick crash course in how to bet like you know what you're talking about.

Disclaimer: I don't do complicated bets. All these examples will be using a standard $2 minimum bet, although I believe Keeneland lowered the minimum wager to $1. Go big or go home, I say. TWO DOLLARS.

Regardless of what you're betting, when you place your bet, you say...

1. The name of the track
2. The race number
3. The amount of the bet
4. The type of bet
5. The number of the horse

One horse, one bet

The easiest bet is just to pick one horse to win, and it's a super straight and simple bet.

Example: "Keeneland, race one. $2 to win on 4."

Across the Board

Have a horse you love but you're not entirely sure it's a winner? Bet it "across the board," or to win, place, or show. That bet will cost you $6 since you're basically placing three bets ($2 to win, to place, and to show). As long as your horse comes one of the top three spots, you're a winner.

Example: "Keeneland, race one. $2 across the board on 4."

Exacta/Exacta Box

And now let's talk about my favorite bet ever. I use this one to make myself sound like I totally know about horse racing. (Note: I do not know anything about horse racing. My betting system is based purely on whether the horse name means something to me and who the jockey is. If Redhead McSparkles is ridden by a jockey named Jesus, I'm betting on it.)

The exacta bet involves picking the horses that will win and place (or come in first and second). Your best shot is to pick the favorites for this one. Whichever horse you say first is the one you expect to win, and the second is who you think will place. This bet will cost you $4 since you're actually placing two bets, $2 on the winning horse and $2 on the placing horse.

Example: Keeneland, race one. $2 exacta on 4 and 6.

Now- here's my bet- the exacta box. Something about saying "exacta" and "box" makes me feel like a total pro. The box means you have the horses you think will come in first and second, but you're not sure what order they will be in. You can box as many horses as you want. (I usually choose three horses in the hopes that two of them will win and place.)

Example: Keeneland, race one. $2 exacta box on 4, 6, and 9. (This is one where you probably want to go with a $1 bet, because these get expensive really quickly as you add more and more horses.)

Trifecta/Trifecta box

These are the exact same as the exacta and exacta box, except you're dealing with the first three slots instead of the first two. You're choosing the horses that will win, place, and show.

It is extremely hard to pick the exacta and/or the trifecta. What are the odds that you'll even get one horse right, let alone two or three? But these bets, without boxing them, are cheaper, and they typically pay out well if you win. The boxes are easier to win, but cost a lot more.

(If you bet and win a trifecta, you basically have bragging rights for life. If you see me there, I'll buy you a drink.)

Other bets

Daily Double: You choose the winner in two consecutive races. (My mom did this once when I was a kid. She still talks about it.)

Pick Three: You choose the winner in three consecutive races.

Pick Four: You choose the winner in four consecutive races.

More complicated

Remember how I said I don't do complicated bets? There are things involving "Part-wheels" which, I think, is basically boxing a bet but on a much larger scale. And you "key" horses in those if you know which horse you think will win but you're not sure about the order of any of the others. 

That is literally all I know about these bets. You're welcome.

There you go! You officially have no excuse to skip Keeneland this year. 

When you're there, look for me. I'll be the one with the bourbon and coke betting on every single horse with "Red" in its name.