The Pride of the Preakness Stakes

By Matt Domino Published May 14, 2013

The Preakness Stakes can very often be the forgotten race in horse racing’s Triple Crown. The Kentucky Derby is the first race in the series and is full of pageantry and Southern charm. The Belmont Stakes is usually the home of history, since any Triple Crown hopeful will have to win at the longest track in order to achieve their ultimate goal.

However, the “middle child” of the Triple Crown has it’s own history and charms—including the fifth annual Infield Fest on Saturday, May 17. Infield Fest is billed as the Baltimore region’s biggest party and caps off a week of festivities in and around the Pimlico racetrack. This year, the festivities start at 8:20 AM when Kristen & The Noise play the first of their three sets of the day. The music continues through the afternoon with sets by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Chevelle and Pitbull all before the horses take post position. An eclectic lineup to be sure, but, again, the Preakness has its own sense of tradition—it is not the Kentucky Derby Part II.

Recommended Videos

If this all sounds too early, then you will be reassured by both the Beer Garden and MUG Club tickets that can be purchased. In those venues, you’ll be able to get your hands on a variety of beers and cocktails, including the traditional drink of the Preakness, the Black Eyed Susan—a mixture of vodka, St. Germain, lemon juice, blackberry simple syrup and bitters named after the flower of the Preakness—which many find to be more refreshing than the Kentucky Derby’s mint julep.

And this year, the Pimlico racetrack will host the first ever Preakness Eve Infield concert on Friday, May 16. The Friday before the Preakness is known as Black Eyed Susan Day, which celebrates the running of the Black Eyed Susan stakes for three-year-old fillies. The Preakness Eve concert will feature performances by the Goo Goo Dolls, Rodney Atkins and Rachel Farley; and will also be another chance to throw back a few Black Eyed Susan cocktails.

This Saturday, don’t let the Preakness pass you by. It’s an American sporting tradition.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Matt Domino is a writer living in Brooklyn. His fiction has appeared in Slice and The Montreal Review, while his non-fiction…

Culture

10 cigar myths the internet won’t let die

The cigar 'facts' shared in every lounge that are actually complete BS

two men enjoying cigars

The internet has been such an asset to the cigar world. It allows us to look up obscure brands, communicate with fellow fans across the globe, and access a greater amount of information than ever before. There's a downside, though: rumors catch on like wildfire, and once they're out there, they're nearly impossible to get rid of.Visit any cigar lounge or read online forums, and you'll find the same tired myths that have been making the rounds for decades. While a few are harmless pieces of folklore, others are robbing you of your hard-earned cash, ruining your smoking experience, or just flat-out lying to you about health hazards.Let's burn down those stubborn misconceptions once and for all.

Myth #1: Darker (Maduro) cigars are always more powerful

Culture

Cigar etiquette 101: Dos, don’ts, and modern manners

Please don't be that guy. Here are the cigar etiquette mistakes that scream 'amateur'

well-dressed guy smoking on a couch in the dark

Walking into a cigar lounge for the first time feels like crashing somebody's secret club. They've got this unspoken language, weird rituals, and enough unwritten rules to make your head spin! But here’s the thing—cigar etiquette is not some gatekeeping nonsense to try to make you look dumb. It's about respecting the process, the experience, and not being the person who ruins everyone else's vibe.Whether you're new to this or have been faking for years, this guide will sort you out because there's nothing more likely to ruin a good smoke than someone who clearly has no idea what they're doing.

The basics: Respecting the ritual

Culture

The first movie from Materialists director Celine Song just found a new streaming home

The movie is a brilliant look at the roads not taken.

The cast of Past Lives

Few directors have a debut feature that's as splashy as Celine Song's. The director, who now has Materialists in theaters, had a breakout hit at Sundance called Past Lives that took her all the way to the Oscars. Now that Materialists is in theaters and doing quite well, you might want to catch up with Past Lives, which was one of the best movies of 2023.

The film stars Greta Lee and is told in episodes that span more than 20 years. It starts in South Korea, and follows two Korean children who are clearly close friends and may even have a romantic spark as one of them prepares to move to Canada. Then, we follow their story over decades as they come into and out of each other's lives until they're both in their mid-30s and they reunite for a day in New York City.