PREAKNESS STAKES: THE LINEUP

1. MARCIANO

Odds: 30-1

Jockey: Mark Johnston

Trainer: Tim Ritchey

Owner: Win More Stable

Record: 11 starts-5 wins-3 2nds-0 3rds

Earnings: $237,500

Sire: Two Punch (Mr. Prospector)

Dam: Pardonable (Magesterial)

Comment: As a son of Two Punch, Marciano is the best-named horse in the field. He’s also the youngest, having been foaled on May 4, 1998. Trainer Tim Ritchey will have the colt sent by van from his base at Delaware Park, with Marciano expected to arrive at Pimlico about noon today. The gray horse’s ticket into the race was a 1 1/8-mile victory in the Federico Tesio Stakes at Pimlico on April 21.

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2. MR. JOHN

Odds: 20-1

Jockey: Corey Nakatani

Trainer: Elliott Walden

Owner: Thomas Van Meter II

Record: 5-2-1-1

Earnings: $90,930

Sire: Golden Gear (Gulch)

Dam: Come On Texas (Apalachee)

Comment: In only his fifth start, at Keeneland on April 21, Mr. John ran second to Keats in the Lexington Stakes, but was disqualified and placed eighth for a bumping incident leaving the gate. Trainer Elliott Walden has run only two horses in the Preakness but came close both times. Menifee was second to Charismatic in 1999, the year after Walden’s Victory Gallop ran second to Real Quiet.

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3. GRIFFINITE

Odds: 50-1

Jockey: Shaun Bridgmohan

Trainer: Jennifer Leigh-Pedersen

Owner: Ernie Paragallo

Record: 8-3-1-1

Earnings: $215,027

Sire: Unbridled’s Song (Unbridled)

Dam: Copious (In Reality)

Comment: Trainer Jennifer Leigh-Pedersen, who will become the ninth woman to saddle a horse in the Preakness, is Griffinite’s third conditioner. That’s about par for the course for Griffinite’s moody owner, Ernie Paragallo, renowned for not taking losses gracefully. Griffinite’s Preakness jockey, Shaun Bridgmohan, 21, is the fifth rider for the colt in the last five races.

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4. A P VALENTINE

Odds: 10-1

Jockey: Victor Espinoza

Trainer: Nick Zito

Owner: Ol Memorial Stable

Record: 8-3-0-2

Earnings: $368,170

Sire: A.P. Indy (Seattle Slew)

Dam: Twenty Eight Carat (Alydar)

Comment: Trainer Nick Zito won the Preakness with longshot Louis Quatorze in 1996. Since beating Point Given in the Champagne last year, A P Valentine has won once in five starts--an optional claiming race at Hialeah--and after running last as the favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. A P Valentine zigged when he should have zagged in the Derby, was lucky to stay on his feet and finished seventh.

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5. CONGAREE

Odds: 5-2

Jockey: Jerry Bailey

Trainer: Bob Baffert

Owner: Stonerside Stable

Record: 5-3-0-1

Earnings: $597,400

Sire: Arazi (Blushing Groom)

Dam: Mari’s Sheba (Mari’s Book)

Comment: Congaree contested the blistering early pace in the Derby and still finished third, missing second by a nose to Invisible Ink. That was only Congaree’s fifth race, and the Preakness will be his third start in five weeks. Monarchos has won four of five starts this year, and the only horse to beat him was Congaree, a 2 3/4-length winner in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct.

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6. RICHLY BLENDED

Odds: 10-1

Jockey: Rick Wilson

Trainer: Ben Perkins Jr.

Owner: Raymond Dweck

Record: 5-4-0-1

Earnings: $323,280

Sire: Rizzi (Afleet)

Dam: Valid Blend (Valid Appeal

Comment: Bloodstock agent Buzz Chace, who spent $100,000 to buy Richly Blended as an unraced 2-year-old for Raymond Dweck, says the colt’s optimum distance is a mile. So what is Richly Blended doing in the Preakness at 1 3/16 miles? Satisfying Dweck’s itch to run in a Triple Crown race, and perhaps trying to steal the race off the front end, something that hasn’t happened since Aloma’s Ruler did it in 1982.

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7. MONARCHOS

Odds: 2-1

Jockey: Jorge Chavez

Trainer: John Ward Jr.

Owner: John Oxley

Record: 7-4-1-1

Earnings: $1,605,630

Sire: Maria’s Mon (Wavering Monarch)

Dam: Regal Band (Dixieland Band)

Comment: Monarchos has already won two $1-million races this year, the Florida Derby and the Kentucky Derby. Monarchos certainly seems to recognize the opposition. Bob Baffert, who couldn’t beat Monarchos with two horses in the Derby, walked past the colt at the Preakness barn with a doughnut in his hand the other morning, and the Derby winner gave him an inquiring glance. “Rub it in,” Baffert quipped.

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8. PERCY HOPE

Odds: 50-1

Jockey: Jon Court

Trainer: Tony Reinstedler

Owner: Waterfall Stable

Record: 12-4-2-2

Earnings: $428,397

Sire: Ide (Forty Niner)

Dam: Ridinghood (Red Ransom)

Comment: Winner of the Lone Star Derby, Percy Hope can earn a $1-million bonus, offered by Lone Star Park, with a victory in a Triple Crown race. Trainer Tony Reinstedler has never run a horse in the Preakness but handled Prairie Bayou as a 2-year-old--the colt going on under Tom Bohannan to win the 1993 Preakness before his fatal breakdown in the Belmont.

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9. BAY EAGLE

Odds: 30-1

Jockey: Ramon Dominguez

Trainer: Graham Motion

Owner: Lazy Lane Farm

Record: 10-2-3-3

Earnings: $117,923

Sire: Secret Hello (Private Account)

Dam: Sea Wake (Alydar)

Comment: Another late arrival, shipping in today from Delaware Park, Bay Eagle has also been late at the wire in most of his races. A victory in a 1 1/8-mile minor stake at Pimlico on March 31 gave the Virginia-bred colt’s camp all the Preakness encouragement that was needed. Bay Eagle’s jockey, Ramon Dominguez, is a Preakness rookie, but at 24 he knows his way around at Pimlico as one of its leading riders.

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10. DOLLAR BILL

Odds: 12-1

Jockey: Pat Day

Trainer: Dallas Stewart

Owner: Gary and Mary West

Record: 9-3-2-1

Earnings: $453,696

Sire: Peaks And Valleys (Mt. Livermore)

Dam: Saratoga Dame (Saratoga Six)

Comment: The Horse of a Thousand Excuses is looking for one clean trip. Three races back, in the Louisiana Derby, Dollar Bill got an imprudent ride from Pat Day and almost went down. Then in the Blue Grass his out-of-the-clouds running style was compromised by speed-favoring Keeneland. Lastly, when Keats backed up on the far turn of the Derby, Dollar Bill and A P Valentine paid the penalty. Dollar Bill finished 15th.

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11. POINT GIVEN

Odds: 3-1

Jockey: Gary Stevens

Trainer: Bob Baffert

Owner: The Thoroughbred Corp.

Record: 9-5-3-0

Earnings: $1,218,500

Sire: Thunder Gulch (Gulch)

Dam: Turko’s Turn (Turkoman)

Comment: Favored in the Kentucky Derby, Point Given ran fifth at Churchill Downs, perplexing Bob Baffert. “It was very disappointing, the way he ran, but that’s what makes the Derby such a humbling race,” Baffert said. “But we haven’t lost any faith in him, and maybe we’ll get a price on him this time. We’re going to pay more attention to Monarchos. We’ll be watching him the whole way this time.”