Pimlico opens amid rain, and more rain

The rains came — and came, and came — to Pimlico Race Course this afternoon, turning Old Hilltop into more of a mud bog than anything else.

The pouring rain kept the crowd down to a mere trickle; “very quiet,” one vendor described it, with clutches of horsemen seemingly nearly equaling the number of fans.

It may be the opening of the Preakness meet, but it opened not with a bang but… well, you know the rest. For all that, though, betting was solid enough, topping $2.5 million.

Jockey Victor Carrasco was one person glad to be riding at Pimlico, but then again, he’d have been glad to be riding just about anywhere after missing about five weeks with injury. Carrasco steered Cherished Prize to victory in a maiden claiming race in race three, his first start back. In the next, he ran second on Vision of Green — to Last Confession, piloted by his younger brother.

Later, Feargal Lynch took a pair of races. In the seventh, he guided Good Reasoning to a five-length, maiden-breaking score for trainer Graham Motion. In the next, he and trainer Mike Geralis teamed up, Hickory Hill rolling home by 1 1/4 lengths.

Another jock didn’t make much progress today. Trevor McCarthy, perched on a milestone with 997 career wins to date, had two seconds and a third but couldn’t notch a victory.