California Chrome, the early favorite for 2014 Preakness Stakes

Baltimore, MD - California Chrome, the early favorite for the 139th Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico Race Course on May 17, returned to the racetrack during training hours at Churchill Downs Wednesday morning.

California Chrome was accompanied by exercise rider Willie Delgado and Alan Sherman, the son and assistant of trainer Art Sherman, on his way to the racetrack for the first time since winning last Saturday's 140th running of the Kentucky Derby (G1).

Owned by his breeders Steven Coburn and Perry Martin, California Chrome paused before reaching the five-furlong gap, taking a couple of minutes to check out the activity before going onto the track. California Chrome stood in front of the clockers' stand briefly and then jogged one mile.

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"Good. Good. Really super," said Delgado, a former jockey, trainer and exercise rider on the Maryland circuit. "He went out there like he always does. He is his normal self."

Alan Sherman was similarly delighted. "It went really good," Sherman said. "He wanted to train; he was tired of walking."

Sherman said California Chrome would resume galloping Thursday and maintain that schedule for as long as the California-bred colt remains at Churchill Downs. "I still haven't heard about the plane; whether we will go to Pimlico Monday or Wednesday," Sherman said. "I'd prefer Monday. The key now is to keep him happy."

Bet the Preakness Stakes Online

Bet the Preakness Stakes online at OffTrackBetting.com. The 139th running of the 2014 $1,000,000 Preakness Stakes (Grade I), the second jewel of the Triple Crown, is set for Saturday, May 17, 2014 at the historic Pimlico race course. The second leg of the US Triple Crown, often referred to as the Run for the Black-Eyed Susans, is contested by three-year-old thoroughbreds on a dirt track measuring 1 3/16 miles. All members will be able to watch & place wagers on the Preakness online or by mobile wagering from your phone or tablet.

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OffTrackBetting.com offers a bets on the remaining Triple Crown Races. Did you know that on May 23, 1873 the first edition of the Preakness took place? Two years before the inaugural Kentucky Derby, the folks at Pimlico were busy working on a new three-year old stakes race of their own. Pimlico, which since its opening in 1870 had conducted all of its racing in the fall, ran its first Spring Meet in the year of 1873, with the initial running of the Preakness held on May 23. The Preakness was founded by then-Maryland governor Oden Bowie. Governor Bowie's term had actually ended in 1872, yet that did not prevent him from naming the then- mile and a half race in honor of the colt who won the Dinner Party Stakes in 1870 on the occasion of Pimlico's opening. At an 1868 Saratoga party hosted by a Milton Sanford, Bowie guaranteed that Maryland would have a track available for a race that was later dubbed the Dinner Party Stakes and had been instantly promoted by Bowie at the party when he offered $15,000 as a purse--no small sum at the time.