Pimlico Race Course Odds and Picks – The Dinner Party Stakes & More – Preakness Stakes Undercard

• Preakness Stakes Day at Pimlico Race Course features five graded stakes
• The Dinner Party Stakes is Saturday’s penultimate event
• How should we bet the Dinner Party, and find value throughout Saturday’s card?

Maryland is known for many things. From the crabs to beaches, DC suburbs, Naval Academy, Cal Ripken Jr., and Ray Lewis, the Old Line State has great character and characters.

Horse racing is a big deal in the Mid Atlantic precisely one weekend a year. The Preakness has been held in Baltimore since 1873. Terrific cards are put together at Pimlico Race Course on Friday for the Black-Eyed Susan, and Saturday for the Preakness.

This year Pimlico has four graded stakes races leading up to the main event. Let’s look at all of them, with particular attention paid to the Grade 2 Dinner Party Stakes. Can anybody beat big favorite Sacred Life? Let’s look carefully at the odds and consider our options.

2021 Dinner Party Stakes Odds

Odds as of May 13th

The last race before the Preakness Stakes is scheduled to start 5:38 pm EST. It will be televised by NBC. This mile-and-a-sixteenth grass race includes four horses who have won graded stakes races, but not the favorite Sacred Life. Trainer Chad Brown sends out the chalk, and inexperienced but intriguing Kuramata.

Originally named the Dixie Stakes, this event has taken place annually since 1870. Triple Crown winner Whirlaway was victorious in 1942.

The Favorite

Sacred Life has been running against super tough customers recently. The French bred six year old wrapped up last year with a fourth place finish in a Grade 1 race and began this year with a third in another Grade 1. He last won in August.

While the Dinner Party has a nice field, these aren’t Grade 1 quality horses. Second off a layoff, and stepping down in competition should suit Sacred Life well.

Top Contenders

On April 9 Somelikeithotbrown finished seventh in a Grade 1 race that Sacred Life was third in. It was the seasonal debut for both horses. Last year Somelikeithotbrown finished second in this race, and won a graded stakes at Saratoga.

You wonder if Somelikeithotbrown was tired by the end of last year. He ran nine times including four between early September and mid December. His nearly $700,000 in career earnings are a race high.

Kuramata has pocketed a whooping $61,000 during an abbreviated three race career. He finished third in in his debut across the pond in late 2019, and then returned to win a maiden race this February at Tampa Bay Downs. His last race was an impressive easy victory in an allowance event at Aqueduct. Today will be a big step up in competition, but Brown and owner Peter Brant tend to have excellent horses.

Longshots

Last time out Midnight Tea Time beat Bye Bye Melvin by a neck at Keeneland. While Midnight Tea Time has made more money, and is more experienced, Bye Bye Melvin has a graded stakes win on his resume.

Bye Bye Melvin will be making his second start as a four year old on Saturday, and second start off an extended rest for veteran trainer Graham Motion. He may be coming into his own as an older horse.

Dinner Party Stakes Best Bet

Sacred Life is the class of this field. Others on their best day can certainly win, and Sacred Life isn’t exactly an ATM machine (he has lost at odds of +400 or less four times in eight races since coming to America) but on paper he is in better form a little quicker than these rivals.

Pick: Sacred Life (+140)

Saturday’s Other Graded Stakes Races

Get up early for graded stakes excitement Saturday in Baltimore. Three year old sprinters race six furlongs in the Chick Lang Stakes at 11:41 am EST, older girls go a-mile-and-a-sixteenth on the turf in the Gallorette Stakes at 1:28 pm EST, and The Maryland Sprint Stakes features older boys going six furlongs at 4:41 pm EST.

Chick Lang Stakes

Maryland bred Jaxon Traveler is going to be a heavy favorite as he looks for a fifth win in six career tries. While his first three victories came against questionable competition in his home state, last time out he beat a strong stakes field at Oaklawn Park.

All four wins for Jaxon Treveler have come in wire-to-wire fashion. Rivals Mighty Mischief and Willy Boi should ensure an honest pace in the Chick Lang.

Willy Boi has three wins in five starts but all three victories have been in races limited to Florida breds. Mighty Mischief was a $225,000 purchase and he has won back-to-back races impressively.

Hemp will be a nice price, and if the speed horses tire each other out he has an opportunity to pick up the pieces.

Pick: Jaxon Treveler

Gallorette Stakes

Mean Mary could be the controlling speed, and also has been running against the best competition. A winner of five races in nine career starts, she hasn’t run since finishing seventh in November’s Breeders Cup. She won three graded stakes races last year.

If someone challenges Mean Mary early on, perhaps Irish bred Flighty Lady can be a factor. She was a winner in her US debut in April and is trained by Brown, who is terrific particularly on the grass.

Pick: Mean Mary

The Maryland Sprint Stakes

A pretty evenly matched field of 11 meet in a race that includes just one graded stakes winner. Laki earned that victory over this same Pimlico track in October.

Laki is coming off a victory too, but failed to get to the line first four times at short odds following the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash.

Strike Power is in good form. He faced top horses last time out and finished fourth in a Grade 3 race. He beat Seven Nation Army in a $100,000 optional claimer in March. Seven Nation Army returned from that defeat to win on April 17 at Oaklawn Park.

Special Reserve should be on the lead and has been strong in three races since trainer Mike Maker claimed him.

Frosted Grace is an interesting longshot. He has been the runner up twice this year, falling to top horses both times.

Pick: Frosted Grace