PREAKNESS STAKES

Staff writer Bill Christine takes a look at the 13 3-year-olds entered in the 124th running of the Preakness Stakes today at Pimilico Race Course in Baltimore. Horses are listed in order of saddlecloth numbers and post positions.

1. TORRID SAND; PP-1; Navy blue/red stars on sleeves

* Odds: 60-1

* Jockey: Tim Doocy.

* Trainer: Randy Morse.

* Owner: Classic Stable.

* Record: 5 starts, 2-1-2 (1-2-3).

* Earnings: $91,400.

COMMENT: He didn’t have enough purse money to run in the Kentucky Derby. Unraced as a 2-year-old, he broke his maiden in his third start, at Gulfstream Park, in March. After an allowance win there, he ran third in the Arkansas Derby. He’s the only Florida-bred in the field. Silver Charm has been the only Florida-bred to win the race in the last 14 runnings (1997).

2. KIMBERLITE PIPE; PP-2; Burgandy/gray

* Odds: 20-1

* Jockey: Shane Sellers.

* Trainer: Dallas Stewart.

* Owner: Prairie Star Racing.

* Record: 12 starts, 4-0-1.

* Earnings: $520,583.

COMMENT: An $11,000 yearling bargain, Kimberlite Pipe didn’t actually turn 3 until four days after the Kentucky Derby. He’ll be ridden by Shane Sellers, who was 18th on Vicar in the Derby. Kimberlite Pipe, trained by Dallas Stewart--a former assistant to Wayne Lukas--was ridden to a sixth-place Derby finish by Robbie Albarado. Kimberlite Pipe won the Louisiana Derby.

3. CAT THIEF; PP-3; Green/white

* Odds: 8-1

* Jockey: Mike Smith.

* Trainer: Wayne Lukas.

* Owner: Overbrook Farm.

* Record: 12 starts, 2-5-4.

* Earnings: $800,112.

COMMENT: Before the Kentucky Derby, he was trainer Wayne Lukas’ better-known 3-year-old. But after Charismatic’s win at Churchill Downs, Cat Thief is now a horse with a bridesmaid reputation. Still, Lukas has won the Preakness four times, and in 1995 swept the Triple Crown with different horses--Thunder Gulch in the Derby and Belmont and Timber Country in the Preakness.

4. BADGE; PP-4; Red/yellow

* Odds: 50-1

* Jockey: Mike Luzzi.

* Trainer: Joe Aquilino.

* Owner: Southbelle Stable

* Record: 8 starts, 4-0-2.

* Earnings: $222,630.

COMMENT: This colt ran fourth as the favorite in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 10, which makes him and Torrid Sand the most rested of the Preakness starters. Badge is trained by Joe Aquilino, a retired New York City fireman. There’s a jockey change, from Shaun Bridgmohan--last year’s champion apprentice--to Mike Luzzi, who has never ridden in a Preakness.

5. MENIFEE; PP-5; Purple/gold

* Odds: 5-2

* Jockey: Pat Day.

* Trainer: Elliott Walden.

* Owner: A. Hancock III, J. Stone.

* Record: 6 starts, 4-2-0.

* Earnings: $722,000.

COMMENT: Pat Day, Menifee’s jockey, has won the Preakness five times, more than any rider but Eddie Arcaro, who won six. His main 3-year-old this winter was Cat Thief, but trainer Elliott Walden persuaded him to stick with Menifee despite a disappointing second-place finish in the Tampa Bay Derby. Menifee then won the Blue Grass with Day and just missed overhauling Charismatic in the Kentucky Derby.

6. CHARISMATIC; PP-6; Green/yellow

* Odds: 6-1

* Jockey: Chris Antley.

* Trainer: Wayne Lukas.

* Owner: Bob and Beverly Lewis.

* Record: 15 starts, 4-2-3.

* Earnings: $1,287,064.

COMMENT: Charismatic’s sire, Summer Squall, won the 1990 Preakness. Also in Charismatic’s family tree are Northern Dancer and Secretariat, who also won the Preakness. However, the Kentucky Derby winner could go off the third choice. One of his owners, Bob Lewis, is paying attention. “He drew No. 6,” Lewis said. “That’s the number that worked for us and Silver Charm two years ago.”

7. EXCELLENT MEETING; PP-7; Burgandy/orange

* Odds: 5-1

* Jockey: Kent Desormeaux.

* Trainer: Bob Baffert.

* Owner: John and Betty Mabee.

* Record: 12 starts, 7-3-1.

* Earnings: $1,193,824.

COMMENT: A filly hasn’t run in the Preakness since Winning Colors, the Kentucky Derby winner, got knocked around by Forty Niner and finished third in 1988. Four fillies have won the Preakness, but none since Nellie Morse in 1924. Excellent Meeting, after wiping out the competition in her own division, was fifth in the Derby, trainer Bob Baffert saying that she ran the best of his three horses.

8. PATIENCE GAME; PP-8; Green/white

* Odds: 30-1

* Jockey: Corey Nakatani.

* Trainer: Alex Hassinger.

* Owner: Thoroughbred Corp.

* Record: 4 starts, 2-2-0.

* Earnings: $117,776.

COMMENT: A victory in the Derby Trial on April 24 was only the fourth start for Patience Game, who’s lucky to be alive. When the colt was 4 months old, romping in a paddock at a nearby Maryland farm, he ran into a four-foot-long wooden stick, which punctured his chest and came out at his withers. Patience Game survived and didn’t get to the races until mid-February at Santa Anita.

9. ADONIS; PP-9; Black/red

* Odds: 30-1

* Jockey: Jorge Chavez.

* Trainer: Nick Zito.

* Owner: Paraneck Stable.

* Record: 7 starts, 3-0-0.

* Earnings: $413,640.

COMMENT: He won the Wood, beating a weak field, then flopped in the Kentucky Derby, finishing 17th. There aren’t many throw-outs in this Preakness, but this colt looks like one. Trainer Nick Zito, who won the Preakness in 1996 with Louis Quatorze--who had also bombed in the Derby--is putting most of his eggs in Stephen Got Even’s basket.

10. WORLDLY MANNER; PP-10; Blue

* Odds: 12-1

* Jockey: Gary Stevens.

* Trainer: Saeed bin Suroor.

* Owner: Godolphin Racing Inc.

* Record: 5 starts, 3-0-1.

* Earnings: $250,104.

COMMENT: The Del Mar Futurity winner, sold for a reported $5 million to Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, ran a creditable seventh in the Kentucky Derby, his first real race in eight months. Worldly Manner’s final pre-Preakness workout, at Churchill Downs, was 1:00 2/5 for five furlongs, much faster than he worked before the Derby. “[We] got it right this time,” assistant trainer Tom Albertrani said.

11. STEPHEN GOT EVEN; PP-11; Red/white

* Odds: 10-1

* Jockey: Gary Stevens.

* Trainer: Nick Zito.

* Owner: Stephen Hilbert.

* Record: 5 starts, 3-1-0.

* Earnings: $494,800.

COMMENT: Gary Stevens is the new jockey for “Stephen.” A nice combination for the headline writers, and a snug fit for the Preakness. Stevens won the Pimlico Special--same distance as the Preakness--last Saturday with Real Quiet, and he won the Preakness with Silver Charm two years ago. Stephen Got Even was the second betting choice in the Kentucky Derby, and finished 14th.

12. VALHOL; PP-12; Blue/gray

* Odds: 99-1

* Jockey: Edgar Prado.

* Trainer: Dallas Keen.

* Owner: James Jackson.

* Record: 4 starts, 1-1-0.

* Earnings: $344,100.

COMMENT: Valhol’s former jockey, Billy Patin, was caught packing an electrical device in the Arkansas Derby victory, prompting this remark from Ed Schuyler Jr. of the Associated Press: “I didn’t care whether Valhol ran in the [Kentucky] Derby. But they might need him at Pimlico if the power goes out again.” Last year’s PReakness was a horror for the fans, when a power failure crippled the plant.

13. VICAR; PP-13; Blue/yellow

* Odds: 30-1

* Jockey: Robbie Albarado.

* Trainer: Carl Nafzger.

* Owner: James Tafel.

* Record: 8 starts, 4-1-1.

* Earnings: $745,756.

COMMENT: Trainer Carl Nafzger said his colt will be scratched today because of the bad post position. Vicar has gone backward since winning the Florida Derby, finishing third in the Blue Grass and running 18th, after another poor post draw, in the Kentucky Derby.

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RACE DISTANCE: 1 3/16 miles on dirt. PURSE: $1 million. WEIGHTS: All horses carry 126 pounds with exception of filly Excellent Meeting, who will carry 121.