Man Interferes With Pimlico Race

A burr-headed young man, wearing a tank top, baggy shorts and tennis shoes, ran to the center of Pimlico Race Course during a race--three before the Preakness--on Saturday, forcing several jockeys to swerve their horses to avoid hitting him.

Lee Ferrell, 22, took a swing at one of the horses, the heavily favored Artax, and struck jockey Jorge Chavez on his right leg as he ran by.

Neither Ferrell nor any of the horses and jockeys were injured. The incident occurred in midstretch, under an eighth of a mile from the finish line, in the $194,000 Maryland Breeders’ Cup Handicap. The race was won by Yes It’s True. Artax, who had broken poorly and appeared to be incapable of catching Yes It’s True even before the incident, finished fifth.

The three Pimlico stewards flashed the inquiry sign when the horses crossed the finish line, and 30 minutes later they ordered refunds of money bet on Artax in all mutuel pools. At the same time, they gave Artax credit for his fifth-place finish, which was worth $6,000 in purse money.

Joe De Francis, the president of Pimlico, said that about 1,000 security personnel were on duty at Pimlico, where a record crowd of 101,311 had come for the Preakness, the middle race in the Triple Crown series.

Asked how the man, who came from the crowd of about 50,000 in the infield, could have cleared five fences and reached the track without being stopped, De Francis said: “We have high security--one guard for every 1,000 people. If some crazy person wants to run out on the track and commit suicide, there’s really nothing you can do to prevent it. We’ve run the Preakness for 123 years, and nothing like this has happened.”

Only a handful of security people lined the fences that separate the infield from the dirt track. The man had to climb a chain-link fence and cross the turf course in order to reach the main track.

No charges had been filed against Ferrell by Baltimore police and he had been sent to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation.