The May tradition, the 134th running of the Preakness Stakes is already upon us. But the second jewel in the Triple Crown is a bit different than any other major sporting event.

The truth is, unfortunately, horseracing is a dying sport. There aren’t too many people who follow horseracing like the NFL or NCAA basketball. Horseracing’s true blue fans and afficionados love it, bet on it, and follow it. But the average sports fan (like myself) really just check it out twice a year — once for the Kentucky Derby and once for the Preakness Stakes to see if the Derby winner can make a go for the Triple Crown. Then, on the rare occasion that the horse wins there, maybe we’ll try to catch the Belmont. 

There’s not too much chatter at the Water Cooler or even on the national radio and TV networks about it, aside from the decision of the host, Pimlico Race Track,  to disallow outside beverages from being brought in and that’s a shame, especially given its history and traditiion.

The trditionally rowdy Preakness crowd may be a bit more subdued this year since Pimlico Racetrack banned adult beverages from being brought to the infield.

So here a few other things you need to know if you tune into NBC this Saturday, May 16th at 4:30 p.m for the big race:

-Despite winning the Derby (while being 50-1 odds) Mine That bird is far from the favorite in this years Preakness. The odds have the only filly entered in to the race,  Rachel Alexandra as the true favorite at 8-5 odds.

-From a historical perspective, the chances of Mine That Bird winning the Preakness is pretty good. But even if Bird does win. the chances of him winning the Triple Crown is slim.  There have been 41 Triple crown “misses.”  

-So how slim are the chances of Mine That Bird winning the Triple Crown? Check for yourself. There have been just 11 Triple Crown winners in history. That boils down to just 8% of the horses. There has not been a Triple Crown winner since Affirmed won in all in 1978. The first winner was Sir Barton in 1919.

Jockey Johnny Lofton sits atop the first Triple Crown winner, Sir Barton.