Who is this year’s Smarty Jones, last year’s almost-winner of the Triple Crown? Hard to say before they run the races (as in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes). Which is why you want to book a trip to Baltimore to catch the second jewel in the Triple Crown, the Preakness, May 21 at Pimlico Race Course. And if you catch the Kentucky Derby May 7 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky — the one where the women, and some of the men, show off their hats — you’ll already know which horse to cheer, and by “cheer” we mean “bet on.”
— Eric Celeste