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Today marks the 135th running of the Preakness. For reasons of family ties, when they start singing Maryland My Maryland (sung to the tune of Oh Christmas Tree), I will be rooting for Paddy O'Prado, a colt who came in third in the Kentucky Derby and second in the prestigious, G1 Blue Grass Stakes. My uncle, former mayor Remo Del Gallo, has a daughter Linda Del Gallo who moved out to Des Moines, Iowa and married one of the owners of Paddy O'Prado, Jerry Crawford. It's as good as a reason as any to root for a horse. My paternal grandmother, Concetta Del Gallo, would have bet on Paddy O' because she always bet on the gray horse.

Few know the story of how the Preakness was named. The story started in Saratoga Springs at a lavish August dinner party at the Union Hall Hotel in 1868 attended by the Governor of Maryland, Oden Bowie. It was hosted by Milton Sanford, a gentleman from Massachusetts who had become rich selling blankets in the Civil War. They had been spent the day wagering on horses at Saratoga Race Track, which had opened a few years earlier in 1863. At the dinner party, they planned to open what would become the second oldest race course in the United States, Pimlico race course in Baltimore, Maryland.

In the fall of 1870, "the Dinner Party Stakes," was held in commemoration of the dinner party at Saratoga, marking the opening of Pimlico. The purse was set at $15,000, a staggering sum for a horse race in those days. Sanford had owned the Preakness Stables in Preakness, New Jersey. The name "Preakness" was said to have come from the Native American name Pra-qua-les for "Quail Woods" in the area.

As legend has it, Mr. Sanford entered a horse also named "Preakness" in the Dinner Party Stakes. Preakness had never raced before. Ungainly as a two-year old due to his size, he was not raced until age three. Preakness was sired by one of the greatest sires of all times-Lexington, a horse that was leading sire for an amazing sixteen years (eclipsing any 20th or 21st Century horse).

Preakness won the Dinner Party Stakes. The Dinner Party Stakes evolved into the Dixie Stakes, which is run to this day.

In 1873, Pimlico was to host its first spring season. They were going to host a race for three year olds to be its signature event. Governor Bowie gave it the name "The Preakness" in honor of the first winner of the Dinner Party Stakes. And that is usually where the story ends.

Preakness was to run for five more years, winning or placing in many prestigious races up until age eight. He won ten major stakes races, including back to back runnings of the Jockey Club Handicap.

In 1875, Preakness tied in a dead-heat in the Saratoga Cup with Springbok, winner of the 1873 Belmont Stakes. It was a tour de force; Springbok had beat Preakness and left him in second in the 1874 Saratoga Cup. The pair set a new American record for the 2 1/4 mile distance by running it in 3:56 1/4. The record stood for 20 years.  

After winning the 1875 Saratoga Cup, Preakness was sent to England. He went on to win the Brighton Gold Cup in a walk-over. A "walk-over" is a race where no other horses are entered because other horses are too afraid of the competition.

(Above: The Twelfth Duke of Hamilton, William Alexander Louis Stephen Douglas-Hamilton)

But while in England, Preakness was sold to the Twelfth Duke of Hamilton for breeding, and that is where the story makes a turn for the worse. Preakness was tough to handle as an older horse. Hamilton had a reputation for also easily being riled. One day Preakness through a fit of temper while Hamilton was in his stall. Hamilton shot and killed Preakness. The incident sparked a reform in English law which governed handling of animals. Many of the laws are still on the books to this day.

It was not the last time great horses would find barbaric ends. In 1997, Exceller, the only horse ever to have beaten two Triple Crown winners and a Hall of Fame horse, was sent to slaughter in Sweden. Ferdinand, winner of the 1986 Kentucky Derby, the 1987 Breeder's Cup Classic and 1987 Horse of the Year, was sent to slaughter in Japan in 2002 after his stud fee plummeted. Like Preakness, these horses have sparked a call for reform.

Rinaldo Del Gallo, III