It's Friday afternoon, a day before the 127th Preakness and Pimlico has the exact same atmosphere as Churchill Downs.

When Churchill Downs is closed.

This year's Black-Eyed Susan didn't exactly get the same support as the Kentucky Oaks.

The exterior of the Pimlico grandstand has a certain look. It looks like an auto parts factory. Not that there's anything wrong with auto parts.

And who cares? We're here for the Preakness, second jewel of the Triple Crown. No one promised a Four Seasons hotel. Pimlico suffers enough abuse for its deficiencies, particularly from the freeloading media who get in for nothing to begin with. Plus, they have their own private betting windows upstairs. Imagine reporters covering the Lakers-Kings series, running into the betting parlor in pre-game.

Reporter: I'll take 50 on the Lakers minus 3, parlay that with the over on Shaq.

Teller: Pimlico sure is a dump, isn't it?

On the way into the track Friday it seemed like the right thing to stop and chat it up with the locals. They probably know the track is no Four Seasons too, but once a year they can make a few hundred selling parking space on their lawns. In that sense it's a very good track, amenities be damned. So I almost stopped at a barber shop. Truths are spoken in barber shops. And I would have stopped except Big Boyz Barbershop was closed. Padlocked. It looked like the exterior of the Pimlico grandstand.

Security at the track was tight. I showed my ESPN tape library card to get in. But don't try getting in on Saturday with your libary card. They may be screening for overdue books.

Bob Baffert was looking at his Derby winner War Emblem in the Stakes barn -- looking back at how his colt was dismissed in Louisville. Speaking of the competition he said, "They didn't know what he (War Emblem) was. Everybody was thinking about the pace from the year before." And some people not only didn't know who War Emblem was, but they didn't know what they had. Baffert bet $500 to win for himself and bought a couple $200 tickets for friends. "And then I found out they cashed in the tickets before the race."

Baffert touted his horse to the artist P Diddy in Louisville but when he read about P Diddy's big win in the paper the source of the tip was never mentioned. "I gave him the winner and he gave me P Diddly." Baffert said some other interesting things but I couldn't read my notes when it came time to write this. I do remember him saying "I have the best horse."

On the other side of the barn Nick Zito was looking over his two runners, Straight Gin and Crimson Hero. "I'm loose," he said. "Straight Gin is 10 lengths better than he was in the Blue Grass."

So what if they're longshots. Some horse just won a Kentucky Derby at 20-1. "If you don't run," he reasoned, "you can't even lose."

He was understating what he believes to be his true chances. He pulled out a pair of $300 across-the-board tickets on his runners. The track will no doubt take its cut and earmark the funds for capital improvements. But even if it doesn't, its race will still be called the Preakness.

The place began to take on the look of a factory that produces Triple Crown winners. Hope abounds. For instance, Big Boyz Barbershop had a "for rent" sign on it.