The 1978 Preakness Stakes was the 103rd running of the $210,000 Grade 1
Preakness Stakes
The Preakness Stakes is an American thoroughbred horse race held on Armed Forces Day which is also the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs () on ...
thoroughbred horse race. The race took place on May 20, 1978, and was televised in the United States on the
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
television network
A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or multichannel video programming distributo ...
.
Affirmed
Affirmed (February 21, 1975 – January 12, 2001) was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who is the eleventh winner of the American Triple Crown. Affirmed was well known for his famous rivalry with Alydar, whom he met ten times, includi ...
, who was jockeyed by
Steve Cauthen
Steve Cauthen (born May 1, 1960) is a retired American jockey.
In 1977 he became the first jockey to win over $6 million in a year working with agent Lenny Goodman, and in 1978 he became the youngest jockey to win the U. S. ...
, won the race by a head over runner-up
Alydar
Alydar (March 23, 1975 – November 15, 1990) was an American Thoroughbred race horse and sire. A chestnut colt, he was most famous for finishing a close second to Affirmed in all three races of the 1978 Triple Crown. With each successive ...
, repeating Affirmed's close victory over Alydar in the
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, almost always on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-year ...
. Believe It finished 3rd, repeating his result from the Kentucky Derby. Approximate post time was 5:41 p.m. Eastern Time. The race was run on a fast track in a final time of 1:54-2/5.
Daily Racing Form
The ''Daily Racing Form'' (DRF) (referred to as the ''Racing Form'' or "Form" and sometimes "telegraph" or "telly") is a tabloid newspaper founded in 1894 in Chicago, Illinois, by Frank Brunell. The paper publishes the past performances of race ...
, May 21, 1978 Preakness Stakes Chart. The Maryland Jockey Club reported total attendance of 81,261, this is recorded as second highest on the list of American thoroughbred racing top attended events for North America in 1978.2010 Preakness Stakes Media Guide; page 95 (page P-7 of The Preakness section).
Longshot Track reward took the lead early, but Affirmed took the lead entering the
backstretch Backstretch refers to either: (1) the portion of an oval racetrack on the far side of the grandstand, parallel to the homestretch, or, (2) particularly in North America, the area near the racetrack where horses are stabled and the daily work of main ...
. Alydar had remained fairly close to the leaders and almost caught up to Affirmed entering the stretch. But Affirmed never let Alydar catch up, and won by a neck. 3rd place Believe It finished 7 1/2 lengths behind.
Payout
The 103rd Preakness Stakes Payout Schedule
$2
Exacta
Parimutuel betting or pool betting is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and the Vigorish, "house-take" or "vigorish" are deducted, and payoff Odds#Gambling odds versus probabilities, odds a ...
: (6–3) paid $4.00
The full chart
* Winning Breeder:
Harbor View Farm
Louis Elwood Wolfson (January 28, 1912 – December 30, 2007) was an American financier, a convicted felon, and one of the first modern corporate raiders, labeled by ''Time'' as such in a 1956 article.2/5
* Track Condition: Fast
* Total Attendance: 81,261
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Preakness Stakes 1978
1978
Events January
* January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213.
* January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...