Horse Racing Fantasy Community

Yes, you read it correctly. Pimlico is offering a $5.5 million cash bonus to the winner of the 2011 Preakness Stakes. All this is part of MI Developments' (Pimlico's parent company) efforts to ensure that all eyes will be focused on the Preakness Stakes and not necessarily the Kentucky Derby, which has always been considered the premier race during the Triple Crown.

Both Churchill Downs, the owner of the Kentucky Derby, and MI Developments Inc., the owner of the Preakness, will battle for the attention of the owners and racing fans. Horse racing doesn't get too many days in the sun, and the Triple Crown is as big as it gets for horse racing fans. The Preakness Stakes, which is the second leg of the Triple Crown, is usually watched by 10% to 20% less people than the Kentucky Derby. But, this year that may be completely different. With a $5.5 million bonus, all eyes will be on Pimlico on that third Saturday in May.

Just winning the 2011 Preakness Stakes will not get you that $5.5 million bonus. To qualify, a horse must win three races. All three races are considered important races leading up to and through the Triple Crown.

There are two ways to get your hands on that money. First, the horse must win either the Robert Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita or the San Felipe Stakes and then go on to win the Santa Anita Derby, and, of course, the 2011 Preakness. If your horse is based on the East Coast, then the road to the $5.5 million bonus is accomplished by winning either the Holy Bull Stakes or the Fountain of Youth and then the Florida Derby and, of course, the 2011 Preakness Stakes.

This is actually a very smart move by Frank Stronach, Chairmen of MI Developments. The most important racetracks with the best racing during the winter months are Gulfstream Park in Florida or Santa Anita in Arcadia, CA. Adding a bonus like this will drive a lot of horse owners to target either Florida or southern California racing.

This will be a tough bonus to compete with and will probably lighten up the fields at other racing venues. MID is putting up some very serious money. In addition, to ensure greater success with this bonus program, the current synthetic Santa Anita Racetrack will be converted back to a dirt surface, ensuring all races leading up to the 2011 Triple Crown as well as the actual Triple Crown races themselves will run on the more traditional dirt surface.

We at Horse Racing Simulation want to congratulate Mr. Stronach for what we believe is a fantastic bonus program. MID continues to implement new programs and ideas since they took over several major racetracks in order to ensure the success and growth of this wonderful sport.