RACING NOTEBOOK : Baltimore: A City of Character(s)

When H.L. Mencken achieved fame by writing out of this Chesapeake Bay town, some wondered why he didn’t move 40 miles down the road, where the big politicians, the ones he loved to skewer, hung out.

Mencken remained a Baltimorean for the same reason Barry Levinson and John Waters keep coming back here to make films: This is a city of character as well as characters, a place where the implausible happens so often that it’s commonplace.

There are two important horse races here on the next two Saturdays--the $1-million Pimlico Special this week, and the Preakness, the second leg of the Triple Crown, seven days later--but there are other ways a visitor can tell he’s in Baltimore:

--One of the local newspapers carries a picture of a strange-looking young man in short pants, wearing a helmet with a bird cage in front and carrying what looks like a small butterfly net. The caption says he is a lacrosse player.

--A horse named Braude’s Baby wins at Pimlico, and a bettor turns to a friend and says: “I knew we should have bet the Ginzi.” In Baltimore, horses named alliteratively are known as Ginzis, reportedly because a Mrs. Ginsberg, a long-ago owner, named all of her horses that way. Some of racing’s famous Ginzis include Seattle Slew, Ack Ack, Tim Tam and Twilight Tear.

--Clem Florio, formerly of the Washington Post, will show up, and someone will remind him of the day he put the stopwatch on the pony ride at the Timonium Fair. After covering the races at Timonium, Florio took his young son over to the adjacent fair for a pony ride. Florio, a student of time at the race track, was next seen arguing with the operator of the concession, trying to show him with his stopwatch that his son’s ride was much shorter than the group before him.

--A horse will ship in to run from the training center at Bowie, bringing with him memories of that extinct track in the woods that used to be the only winter haven for Eastern horseplayers. The train from New York once derailed pulling into Bowie in a snowstorm, causing deaths and many injuries. Bloodied punters were seen running down the tracks, trying to reach Bowie in time for the daily double.

--For the second year in a row, Baltimoreans will complain about not being able to understand the race calls of Trevor Denman, the California announcer with the South African accent. This from some of the same people who call the sidewalk pabement , pronounce the name of their own city with only two syllables and say sink as though it starts with a “z”.

--Chick Lang, the former Pimlico general manager, will be around, lovingly telling stories about his old boss, Herman Cohen. “You know that opening bit in ‘Wide World of Sports,’ where the race car crashes into the wall and pieces fly all over the place?” Lang will say. “Well, that was Herman Cohen, parking his car every day at Pimlico.”

--Someone will ask about Jessie Davidson retiring, and locals will recall that he rode in a race one Feb. 14 at Bowie that came to be called “the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.” The horses raced all the way around the track, never changing positions, and several jockeys were charged with rigging the outcome.

--The 1938 Pimlico Special, in which Seabiscuit beat War Admiral in a match race, will be brought up. Someone will say he still has a record of Clem McCarthy’s call, and a wise-guy will say that he has something even better--Mr. Diz’s call. Mr. Diz, a local character who used to sell balloons at parades, among other things, would walk into a newspaper office, stand on a desk with a Dixie cup and re-create McCarthy’s call, every step of the way.

--Trainer Wayne Lukas will run a horse in the Preakness again, prompting reporters to ask him about his Codex beating Genuine Risk in the race in 1980. Genuine Risk’s owners claimed that Codex had fouled their filly, and Lukas’ colt got the victory only after a three-day hearing before the Maryland Racing Commission. The hearing ran so long because witnesses were allowed to ramble. Lukas did everything but recite the menu in telling about having breakfast with his jockey, Angel Cordero, on the morning of the race, and one of the Pimlico stewards told in detail where he bought his binoculars, in a World War II surplus store.

--Brooks Robinson, or some other former Oriole, will appear in the Preakness parade, and a bartender along the route will tell about the many times former manager Paul Richards would get ejected from games, then dart over to Pimlico for the last couple of races.

--A widow of a horseplayer will call Pimlico, asking if her husband’s ashes can be spread over the track. Years ago, a Pimlico jockey, per his widow’s request, had his ashes spread across the finish line, where the rider would always have wanted to be with his horses. About 10 years later, Pimlico was reconfigured, and the finish line was moved. The widow called, and a ceremony was held to transplant the ashes.

--Charlie Eckman, the coach/broadcaster/horseplayer, will walk in, irreverently referring to all of his closest friends as “All-American throwbacks.” In the race after the 1965 Preakness, Eckman stood on the walkway in front of the press box and yelled down to a jockey in the post parade: “Hey, Eddie, you got the battery today?” The rider waved his whip toward the sky. After all, this is Baltimore.

Horse Racing Notes

Ruhlmann, the high weight, is the 5-2 favorite in Saturday’s 1 3/16-mile Pimlico Special, which will be the richest race ever run in Maryland. The 10-horse field, from the rail: Wind Splitter, Edgar Prado riding, carrying 114 pounds; Ruhlmann, Gary Stevens, 124; With Approval, Randy Romero, 118; Silver Survivor, Art Madrid, 115; Opening Verse, Chris McCarron, 120; Gorgeous, Eddie Delahoussaye, 117; Music Merci, Eddie Maple, 116; Criminal Type, Jose Santos, 117; Mi Selecto, Jerry Bailey, 115, and De Roche, Herb McCauley, 114. . . . Gorgeous is only the fourth filly in the race, which has been run 24 times. The only filly to win was Twilight Tear in 1944.

Unbridled, the winner of the Kentucky Derby, will have a workout at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., early next week before being flown to Baltimore for the Preakness on May 19. . . . Summer Squall and Pleasant Tap, who finished second and third, respectively, in the Derby, are also scheduled to run in the Preakness. It will be Pleasant Tap’s third start in 26 days.

Others who may run in the Preakness are Land Rush, Kentucky Jazz, Mister Frisky, Dr. Bobby A., Champagneforashley, Music Prospector, Fighting Notion and J.R.’s Horizon. . . . Real Cash, who led the Derby for three-quarters of a mile, is headed for the Jersey Derby at Garden State Park on May 28.