Charles John “Chick” Lang Jr. came by his involvement in horse racing naturally: his grandfather and father both played prominent roles in the sport, making the younger Lang’s lifetime investment in the sport inevitable. But this Chick took it to a new level: he played a multitude of roles during his time on the track, including the one he is most famous for as the man who made the Preakness Stakes what it is today.

This Maryland classic had a history all its own before its status as the middle jewel of the U.S. Triple Crown. As “Mr. Preakness,” this grandson and son of horsemen took that status to a new level with his constant advocacy on behalf of the race and the track he loved, building Pimlico Race Course and the Preakness Stakes into a destination for both horses and fans.

A Family Calling

Though he died at the early age of 51, John Pierrepont Mayberry had a noteworthy career as a trainer, winning the 1903 Kentucky Derby with Judge Himes. The Mayberry name continues in the sport today, as his grandson Brian Mayberry trained 1994 Kentucky Oaks winner Sardula and his great-granddaughter April Mayberry runs Mayberry Farm, which prepares horses like 2022 Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike for the racetrack.

Canadian Hall of Fame jockey Chick Lang Sr. (Library of Congress/Public Domain)

In 1924, John Mayberry’s daughter Virginia married Canadian jockey Charles John “Chick” Lang, who went on to win the King’s Plate with Fairbank in 1925 and then the 1928 Kentucky Derby with Reigh Count for John D. and Fannie Hertz.

Virginia and Chick had two children, June and Charles Jr., who succeeded his father with the nickname Chick. Chick Jr. grew up at racetracks, traveling with his family as they moved around the various circuits following his father first during his career in the saddle and then when he transitioned to training in the 1930s. The younger Chick followed family tradition and made racing his life, starting as a hot walker, then progressing to groom, trainer, and jockey agent for, among others, Hall of Famer Bill Hartack; as his wife, Nancy, told the Baltimore Sun in 2010, “Chick did everything at the track in his life but ride a horse.”

He then worked his way up through the ranks at his hometown racetrack, Pimlico, starting in 1960, first holding the position of director of racing and then vice president. In 1969, brothers Ben and Herman Cohen, who had owned Pimlico since 1952, reportedly said, “Hell, you might as well take her. She’s always been yours.” Chick Lang Jr., grandson of a Derby winner and son of another Derby winner, took over the racetrack that hosts the Preakness Stakes and then embarked on his life’s mission: to take the track’s signature race to a new level.

True Passion for the Preakness

Col. Matt Winn spent decades in the first half of the 20^th century growing the Kentucky Derby into the bucket-list event we know today. The race had suffered in quality after Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr.’s administration, which sent the race into a down period that Winn worked hard to bring the run for the roses out from under. Chick Lang would do the same for the Preakness.

"Mr. Preakness" Chick Lang (Anne M. Eberhardt/BloodHorse)

As Lang told Steve Haskin in 2003, “When I went to work for Pimlico in 1960, the Preakness was dying. There had been no Triple Crown winner since Citation in 1948, and the Preakness had become just a stop between the Derby and the Belmont.” Like Winn, this third-generation racetracker made marketing this race his life’s work and sparked a renaissance.

Lang wasted no time in getting the word out. In 1961, Lang and three friends spent hours blowing up 2,000 yellow balloons with the word “Preakness” emblazoned on them. From a hotel room on an upper floor of the Brown Hotel, the quartet dropped them on the Kentucky Derby parade, the crowd below inundated with reminders of the next destination after Louisville. He also paid an ad agency to create signs saying, “Next Stop: Preakness at Pimlico” for the city’s buses.

Another year, he rented a hotel room opposite a blank wall on the parade route. He brought a high-powered projector as well, and when the parade’s Grand Marshal and Derby Queen were announced, he turned on the lights and projected an advertisement for the Preakness where the gathered crowd could see it. The gasps from the assembled audience told the Lang that he had accomplished his mission.

His family history might have been connected to the Kentucky Derby, but his passion became the Preakness. His favorite elevator pitch for the historic race was, “Come see the Kentucky Derby winner in his first public appearance.” While the race might have only lasted two minutes, Lang spent the other 525,598 minutes making sure that his race was the one fans showed up for. Still, Preakness attendance lagged, dropping to 30,000, when Lang got the idea to open the track’s infield up to fans. The Cohens resisted at first, especially after only 800 fans showed the first year. Thanks to Lang’s promotion, though, the crowds grew to 50,000, eventually pushing the yearly attendance for the Preakness past the 100,000 mark.

Lang, center, surrounded by friends. (Maryland Jockey Club)

For all of his advocacy on behalf of his home track and its Triple Crown classic, Lang earned the nickname “Mr. Preakness” and wore it proudly: he was often seen in a khaki flak jacket adorned with years’ worth of pins collected from his various racing adventures. He also helped found the Maryland Million in 1986, establishing another lasting tradition for his home track. In his decades at its helm, Lang built his reputation on his work for Pimlico and then became a racing consultant when he left the track in 1989 as well as an Eclipse Award-winning racing analyst for WBAL radio. He earned many honors in his lifetime, including a Certificate of Distinguished Citizenship of Maryland three times, the Special Award of Merit from the Maryland Jockey Club, the Humphrey S. Finney award from the Maryland Racing Media Association, and the Jockeys Agent Benevolent Association Man of the Year award.

Truly, though, Chick Lang was much a part of the racetrack as it was a part of him. His wife, Nancy, remarked, “Chick always said he loved racing more than he loved me, and that was OK. I understood.” To understand why the Preakness is as much of an event as we know it is to see what Lang poured into the race over the decades, the same love and care that Matt Winn imbued into its cousin, the Kentucky Derby. In his inimitable way, “Mr. Preakness” made the third Saturday in May, the Woodlawn Vase, the blanket of Black-eyed Susans, and the weathervane an essential highlight of our racing calendar a century and a half after that inaugural edition.