Contenders

          The native Panamanian is a 21-year-old who became Jones’ go-to rider last year, winning the Kentucky Oaks with Proud Spell and finishing second in the Kentucky Derby with Eight Belles.

          Rick Porter owns Fox Hill Farms and Dr. Tom Simon is the master of Vinery Stables, a farm established in 1986 by Ben and Elaine Walden, parents of WinStar racing manager Elliot Walden.
          Porter and Simon already have enjoyed a successful collaboration with Kodiak Kowboy, multiple graded-stakes winner who tallied in this year’s Carter Handicap.
          On his own, Porter, an automobile dealership owner in Newark, Del., owned Old Fashioned; the last two Kentucky Derby runners-up, Hard Spun and Eight Belles; Breeders Cup Distaff winner Round Pond, and Grade 1 winner Jostle. Porter has been an owner of racehorses since 1994 and in 2007 he started Turf Club USA, an offering memberships in the ownership of racehorses and broodmares beginning at $1,500.
          Eight Belles, Round Pond, Hard Spun and Jostle are among his finest racehorses.
          Simon, a retired corporate attorney, has raced horses in the U.S., Australia and Europe. He resides at the

          Kentucky native jumped into the national spotlight the last several years with the performances of Proud Spell, Eclipse champion filly of 2008, and Hard Spun and Eight Belles, runners-up in the last two Kentucky Derbys.
          He came into this classic season with two powerful performers in Old Fashioned and Friesan Fire, but Old Fashioned suffered an injury in the Arkansas Derby that derailed Triple Crown hopes.
          Jones, who has since moved to Fair Hill, Md., was a crop farmer back in Kentucky, growing tobacco, corn and soy beans. The experience he gained with workhorses on the farm has served him well in his new career – he took out his trainers’ license in 1982, after two years of owning horses. “II though (they) weren’t getting trained right, so I might as well do it myself,” he said. “Training horses is a lot more fun than farming.”
          In his only previous Preakness attempt, he finished third with Hard Spun in 2007.

Grapestock LLC is the breeding arm of Dr. Tom Simon's Vinery; hence Friesan Fire qualifies as a Vinery homebred. He was offered at the 2007 Keeneland September yearling sale, but failed to reach his reserve when bringing a top bid of $725,000.