Before we get into the bullets headed to Baltimore for the Preakness, a word has to be reserved for Mine That Bird and his formerly unknown trainer Bennie L. Woolley Jr., who cut his teeth in the quarter horse game and had to drive 21 hours from New Mexico to make the date in the Kentucky Derby.

This was not Calvin Borel's first trip to the rodeo either as he was the pilot of Street Sense and was third in last year's Derby.

Lifetime Woolley has won 12% of the races he has entered and his starters have earned almost $4 million combined. Of the other runners in the field that were sold at auction, Bird brought the shortest price at $9,500.

Owners of some other runners in the Derby spent between 15 grand and $3.7 million to have a Derby starter and Mine That Bird was bought by his current owners for $400,000 after he was named Canadian Juvenile champ.

Dreams do come true, now on to the 2nd jewel.

Pimlico has a reputation for being a speed conducive track and the reputation is intact for a reason. In some cases is it right on the money.

But be careful what you take for granted, as speed is not always king according to Hall of Fame rider Gary Stevens, who won 8 Triple Crown races including 2 Preakness Stakes scores.

Stevens: " That's a fallacy. It's like an old wives' tale that Old Hilltop is a speed racetrack. Every year I've got to go through the same thing, that Pimlico is a speed track. Basically, the horses run the exact same style at Baltimore as they do in the Kentucky Derby. It's not a speed-favoring racetrack. It's a fair racetrack and I think if you get your horse position where it belongs, then you've got a shot. But people who go in there with the attitude that it's a speed racetrack and try and change a horse's style, they're making a major mistake.... you've got no chance."

And the thought does not stop with Stevens. Consider what Hall of Famer Bob Baffert had to say on the subject. Baffert: "The only horse I ever saw that got out there and really coasted was Louis Quatorze. Other than that, I've never seen it that way."

The Preakness is run at a 16th of a mile shorter then the mile and a quarter Derby but it was not always like that. It has been run at 7 different distances over the decades from a mile to a mile and a half. And it has not always been the 2nd leg in the Triple Crown. Eleven times, the Preakness was run before the Derby, and 11 times the Belmont Stakes was run prior to the Preakness. And the Derby and Preakness was run on the same day twice. For about the last 75 years, the Derby, Preakness and Belmont have been carded in that sequence.

As they days dwindle down toward the Preakness, and it will be here before you know it, try to get a concept on how the runners are handling the ship to Maryland after the grueling Derby and once again, think pace in Baltimore and don't get caught up in the hype.