Even with the abrupt two-week gap between the first two legs of racing's Triple Crown, the runners coming back out of the Kentucky Derby have a huge edge when it comes to winning the Preakness. With good reason.

Photo Gallery BALTIMORE -- Maryland-based jockey Mario Pino won three times yesterday, but his dream of winning the biggest race at the track where he has won more than 1,770 races was dashed when Hard Spun finished third in the Preakness Stakes. Hard Spun assumed the lead when front-runners Xchanger and Flying First Class tired entering the second turn. But Hard Spun didn't have enough late speed to hold off Curlin and Street Sense. Pino was riding in the Preakness for the third time, but...

This year, he has won two races back-to-back. Japan's Shadow Gate wins Singapore Airlines Cup. Jockey Katsuharu Tanaka kept the five-year-old Shadow Gate in the pack from the start, surging forward in the middle of the track to take the lead turning into the final stretch of the Group One 1. Shadow Gate is a Group 3 winner who has performed well in his native country. French horse Doctor Dino, trained by Richard Gibson, was third while Singapore's Setembro Chove, a Brazilian-bred horse,...

With over 300,000 on offer to the winner of the inaugural event, it not surprisingly attracted some of the classiest juvenile fillies in training. Not far behind in third though was Cliche - a fantastic effort for a maiden and a rewarding run at the same time. Group Therapy slammed that rival by five lengths last time - a huge distance in a two-year-old five-furlong race. But she will have to win this contest if those lofty expectations are to be realised. Barron is not exactly known for...

Caledonias Dave Graf excels on national barrel racing circuit. Dave Graf and Gifta A great horse can make a great trainer, but a great trainer cannot make a great horse. Thats the way Dave Graf of Caledonia summed up the success he has had in regional and national barrel racing. Graf traveled to San Carlos, Ariz. in early February for the Southwest Classic and placed first in both the Open and Senior 1-D classes.