Eddington Returns With Special Win

BALTIMORE —  Eddington’s return to Pimlico was much more successful than Funny Cide’s.

Running on a damp, overcast Friday, both horses showed up here for the first time since their separate Preakness appearances, with Eddington winning the $500,000 Pimlico Special and Funny Cide finishing fourth in a seven-horse field in front of 13,265.

Funny Cide, winner of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness in 2003 and now winner of only three of 14 starts since the Preakness, loomed close to the leaders on the far turn but had no punch through the stretch after jockey Jose Santos moved him to the outside. Funny Cide, running for the first time in almost seven months, was beaten by eight lengths on a sloppy track.

Eddington, third in last year’s Preakness, beat Pollard’s Vision by 1 3/4 lengths to win for the third time in five starts this year. The heavy hitters in the older-male division -- Ghostzapper, Rock Hard Ten, Roses In May and Southern Image, winner of the Special a year ago -- weren’t here.

After Pollard’s Vision, the rest of the order of finish was Presidentialaffair, Funny Cide, Eurosilver, Offlee Wild (the 2-1 favorite) and Grand Reward. Badge Of Silver and Second Of June were scratched. Presidentialaffair blew a shoe and Grand Reward was reported to have displaced his palate.

Eddington, ridden by Eibar Coa, is trained by Mark Hennig. He paid $7.20, running 1 3/16 miles in 1:58.

“I don’t care what anybody says, he doesn’t like mud,” trainer Barclay Tagg said of his horse, Funny Cide. “He doesn’t like mud in the morning and he doesn’t like mud in the afternoon.”

In other stakes, Silmaril won the $107,400 Pimlico Distaff Handicap by three-quarters of a length as Ashado, at 3-10, finished second in a four-horse field; Spun Sugar, owned by Frank Stronach, whose Magna Entertainment owns Pimlico, won the $200,000 Black-Eyed Susan; Burnish, trained by Nick Zito, won the $100,000 Miss Preakness; and Gabianna, paying $179.80 to win, won the $75,000 The Very One.

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Early odds on the Preakness, insignificant because of the small amount of money in the win pool, were even less relevant because money bet outside Maryland was not included. Afleet Alex is the favorite at 4-1, followed by High Fly, 9-2; Giacomo, 6-1; and Closing Argument, 8-1. The others: Malibu Moonshine, Greeley’s Galaxy and Scrappy T, all at 10-1; High Limit and Wilko, both 13-1; Noble Causeway, 15-1; Hal’s Image, 23-1; Galloping Grocer and Sun King, both 25-1; and Going Wild, 30-1.... Over a sloppy track, Greeley’s Galaxy worked a fast three furlongs in 34 4/5 seconds.

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The field

The field for the 130th running of the Preakness at Pimlico Race Track in Baltimore with morning line odds. The 1 3/16 -mile race will be run today at 3:05 p.m. PDT (coverage begins at 2 p.m. on Ch. 4):

*--* PP HORSE JOCKEY TRAINER M/L ODDS 1. Malibu Moonshine S. Hamilton K. Leatherbury 20-1 2. High Fly J. Bailey N. Zito 9-2 3. Noble Causeway G. Stevens N. Zito 10-1 4. Greeley’s Galaxy D. Flores W. Stute 15-1 5. Scrappy T R. Dominguez R. Bailes 20-1 6. Hal’s Image J. Santos B. Rose 50-1 7. Closing Argument C. Velasquez K. McLaughlin 5-1 8. Galloping Grocer J. Bravo D. Schettino 30-1 9. Wilko C. Nakatani C. Dollase 10-1 10. Sun King R. Bejarano N. Zito 15-1 11. High Limit E. Prado R. Frankel 12-1 12. Afleet Alex J. Rose T. Ritchey 5-2 13. Giacomo M. Smith J. Shirreffs 6-1 14. Going Wild R. Albarado W. Lukas 30-1

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