The People Behind Preakness By Katherine O. Rizzo with photos by Jim McCue


T e middle jewel in the Triple Crown. T e biggest single sports day in Maryland. T e Peo- ple’s Party. T e Preakness Stakes. It is one race on one day each May, and yet it takes a village a year’s worth of planning to put on. Whether you are watching live from Pimlico or sitting on your couch at home, the race goes off each year seamlessly due to this hardworking team of corporate offi cials, stewards, veterinarians, track crew and more.


Each May, it is T e Equi-


ery’s privilege to profi le a few of these individuals who make the Preakness Stakes one of the best days of racing in the country. To read past interviews, go


to http://qrs.ly/up6ut6v or scan the QR Code here with your smart phone or device.


Kaymarie Kreidel Outrider


Outrider Kaymarie


Kreidel grew up riding in the show ring on ponies before ever sitting on a racehorse. When she had outgrown the ponies, she stopped by a neighbor’s farm and asked if they needed someone to ride some of their horses. “T ey asked if I had ever sat on a racehorse before and I said ‘sure!’ which wasn’t really true at the time,” she said laugh- ing. T ere she started helping get layups back into work, and lightly breezing youngsters. A van driver for the Boniface family saw her rid- ing one day and asked if she ever thought about being a jockey. “I asked if anyone could become a jockey and he said yes, so I went to work for the Bonifaces,” she said. Two years later and with her jockey license in


Kaymarie Kreidel


hand, Kaymarie landed at Laurel Park. “I raced for 16 years at Laurel and in 2004 started sub- bing as an outrider,” she stated. Five years after offi cially “retiring” in 2006, Kaymarie was still riding in races, even winning the fi rst female jockey race in Jamaica. “I just couldn’t quit it alto- gether but I knew that I wanted to switch to out- riding before I got too old and too sore to race.” As soon as Kaymarie starting subbing as an


outrider, she joined the union so that when a space with MJC opened up, she’d have the se- niority she needed to get the fulltime job. In 2013 Kaymarie got the job, and now, she has working “ponies.” According to Kaymarie, these horses, called “ponies” on the track, work harder than any racehorse. “T ey work every race and


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have to be ready to run the whole track at a moment’s notice,” she explained. “And they need to be classy horses. Smart, fast and trustworthy. My ponies have saved my butt several times!” Due to the longer racing day schedules of Black- Eyed Susan and Preakness days, the outriders typically have two ponies they swap out on those days. “T ese are longer days with bigger gaps between each race so we make sure to give our ponies breaks,” she said adding that the only other diff erence between these two days and regular racing days is the live broadcasting schedule. “As we get closer to the big race each day, we switch over to lis- tening to the NBC crew to get onto their tv schedule,” she said, explaining that she wears an earbud to communicate di- rectly with the NBC onsite studio. “T ey tell us exactly when they want a race to go off and we make sure to get everyone in synch to make that happen.” All of Kaymarie’s ponies are former racehorses, including Stylishly, who as a youngster had been ridden by Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens. In 2012 Stevens and Stylishly, now one


that year’s Preakness). Af- ter the mock race, Gary told Kaymarie that was the most exhilarating race he had ever ridden. “A year or two later, he returned to racing!” she said. If this year’s Preakness is


May 19, 2018 Plimico, Baltimore


For tickets and Preakness week schedule see www.preakness.com


your fi rst time at Pimlico, Kaymarie says,


“get down


to the paddock to see the horses up close!” And maybe even get a chance to pet a pony while you’re there.


Diana Harbaugh Director of Printing & Promotions Diana Harbaugh


For 26 years, Diana Harbaugh has been with the Maryland Jockey Club in the position of Director of Printing and Promotions. Although the title has remained the same through the years, the job itself is ever-evolving. “I ran the print shop when we had one here in house but now I act as the liaison to the printer we use, orga- nizing the materials need- ing to be printed,” Diana said. But that isn’t even the half of what Diana does


in terms of supporting MJC and getting the Preakness Stakes up and running each year. For Preakness week she works with the crew


of Kaymarie’s ponies, reunited for another race. “T at year was my most memorable Preakness because I ended up having such a personal con- nection to it,” Kaymarie said. She went on to tell the story of how MJC decided to have a promo- tional mock race the morning before the Preak- ness Stakes, using her horse Stylishly, who looked


A MARYLAND HORSE COUNCIL PUBLICATION


SINCE 1990


T is month’s cover features out- MAY 2018 MJC Outrider


KAYMARIE KREIDEL & TREY BEAR at the 2014 Totally TB Show © Linda Davis


It’s Preakness Time! People Behind the Preakness 2018 Edition


Plus... Is your stable properly licensed? Trailer Safety - Prepare & Prevent


rider Kaymarie Kreidel and her track pony Trey Bear competing at the Totally T oroughbred Show at Pimlico in 2014. Trey Bear is a 2004 Kentucky-bred ex-racehorse that spent several years as Kaymarie’s main track pony. During breaks in the racing season, she would show and event the 15H gelding. Now re- tired from being a track pony, Trey Bear is actively eventing.


a lot like Bodemeister (second in the Kentucky Derby and one of the Preakness favorites) and a fellow outrider’s horse that looked like Derby winner I’ll Have Another (who went on to win


from the Budweiser Clydesdales, runs the Sun- rise Tours, and schedules authors for the an- nual book signing on Black-Eyed Susan Day. She works long days that get even longer dur- ing Preakness week, often arriving at the track by 5:30 a.m. and staying well into the night. “Preakness week in some ways is just like any other racing week in Maryland, except the sheer amount of everything is increased ten-fold,” she explained,


adding “It’s


like-well organized chaos and even as busy as it can get, it is still electric being at Pimlico for Preakness. T ere is so much plan- ning that goes into the day ahead of time that the actual Preakness Day goes very smoothly.” “For obvious reasons…” Diana says American Pharoah’s Preakness win,


and then Triple Crown glory, was memorable, but each Preakness is diff erent and unique in its own way. “I think 2009 with Team O’Neil, train-


MAY 2018 | THE EQUIERY | 17 continued...


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