Two weeks after the Kentucky Derby, most of the same horses head north to Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Track to compete in the Crown’s second contest, the Preakness Stakes. The Preakness has a little bit longer history than the Derby, as it was first run at Pimlico in May of 1873, two years before the first Derby trial. However, unlike the Kentucky Derby’s continuous run at Churchill Down’s, Pimlico’s record is interrupted by twenty years. In 1889 the track began struggling financially and operations slowed down considerably. The Preakness was run at various tracks in New York during the interim, and then returned to Pimlico in 1909.
The Preakness has a homey theme song in "Maryland, My Maryland" and a winners blanket made out of black-eyed susans. It’s official beverage is also called the Black-Eyed Susan, and consists of two lemons, one orange, a little bit of sugar and a shot of bourbon. But Pimlico has an iconic architectural feature which plays into a tradition uniquely its own. In 1909 the original Members’ Clubhouse at Pimlico was adorned with weathervane in the form of a horse and rider. Although that clubhouse was destroyed by fire in 1966, today a replica of its cupola, along with the weather vane, stands in the winners circle. Each year upon the official declaration of the Preakness winner, a worker scrambles up a ladder to the weather vane and paints the silks of the iron horse and jockey with the colors of the winner. The colors remain until the following year’s race is won.