Reuters: Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense with exercise rider Mark Cutler up runs, during workouts at Pimlico Race Track in Baltimore, Maryland yesterday.

BALTIMORE (Reuters):

Hard Spun trainer Larry Jones believes jockey Mario Pino's Maryland roots will help his colt turn the tables on Kentucky Derby champion Street Sense in today's Preakness Stakes.

"We're in Pino country!" Jones told reporters outside the Pimlico Race Course Stakes Barn, flashing a broad smile. "We're ready."

The 45-year-old Pino has won nearly 6,000 races during his 28-year career in the saddle and most of them have come in Maryland.

Pino's familiarity with Pimlico Race Course could help the Kentucky Derby runner-up in his bid to upset Street Sense, the muscular dark bay that produced a brilliant rally to capture the Run for the Roses by 2-1/4 lengths.

Street Sense jockey Calvin Borel passed 18 colts along the Churchill Downs rail to wear down front-running Hard Spun, a move that still makes the 50-year-old Jones seethe.

For the more than 100,000 fans attending today's race, a clean finish will help erase the memories of Barbaro's horrific breakdown. The 2006 Kentucky Derby champ broke his leg in the opening furlong of last year's Preakness and ultimately lost an eight-month battle for survival.

The Street Sense-Hard Spun duel is the most compelling storyline of today's nine-horse affair, but the mile-and-three-sixteenths race could feature an upset.

Curlin had a rough trip while finishing third in the Kentucky Derby and the Arkansas Derby champion could rebound from his first loss in four career starts with a solid run in the $1 million race.

Also primed for a strong showing is the Todd Pletcher-trained Circular Quay, a chestnut by Thunder Gulch who never fired in the Derby and finished a disappointing sixth.

If Street Sense wins the Preakness, he will try for the Triple Crown at the 1-1/2-mile Belmont Stakes on June 9 in New York.