BALTIMORE – The field for Friday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico won’t be confused with that of the Kentucky Oaks run two weeks ago at Churchill Downs.
From a betting perspective, that’s a good thing. The field of nine 3-year-old fillies doesn’t include a horse the caliber of the undefeated Good Cheer, who won the Kentucky Oaks as the 6-5 favorite.
In fact, identifying the favorite for the Black-Eyed Susan isn’t easy. Runnin N Gunnin, the Sunland Park Oaks winner and well-beaten third-place finisher in the Grade 2 Fantasy, was made the 5-2 morning-line favorite by Pimlico’s Dan Illman. She would be one of several with a chance in this 1 1/8-mile test.
Amarth, who has been a longshot in two stakes tries, is listed as the 4-1 third choice in the Black-Eyed Susan. She came off a 10-week layoff to run second in the Busher at Aqueduct, getting run down late by Drexel Hill, a filly who came back to run second in the Kentucky Oaks. Amarth was 32-1 when she finished fifth behind a loose-on-the-lead La Cara in the Grade 1 Ashland, a race that finished at the first finish line at Keeneland.
“She didn’t run a bad race. She’s an improving filly, and the extra distance on Friday will suit her,” said Eddie Kenneally, who trains Amarth. “I would think she’ll be better in the longer stretch at Pimlico. I’d expect a good effort from her; it’s not as deep a field as the Ashland.”
Amarth shows two solid works leading to this. Luis Saez rides from post 8.
Good Cheer heads a deep roster of 3-year-old fillies trained by Brad Cox, a group that now includes Margie’s Intention, a Louisiana-bred daughter of Honor A. P. who WinStar Farm recently bought majority interest in and transferred to Cox from Brendan Walsh.
Margie’s Intention is coming off runner-up finishes behind Blue Fire in a pair of Louisiana-bred stakes at Fair Grounds. Blue Fire finished second in the Grade 2 Eight Belles Stakes at Churchill Downs.
“This could be a good spot for her,” Cox said of Margie’s Intention. “She’s worked well enough to try it. We like her. Pedigree-wise she should be able to handle the distance.”
Runnin N Gunnin, a daughter of Gun Runner trained by Steve Asmussen, won the Sunland Park Oaks racing four to six wide throughout. She had another wide trip when third, 9 1/2 lengths behind Quietside, in the Grade 2 Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn.
Kinzie Queen and Princess Aliyah finished fifth and sixth in the Fantasy. Both came back to win their next starts and both are in the Black-Eyed Susan.
Kinzie Queen, trained by Greg Compton, won an allowance April 26 by 2 3/4 lengths with a field-best Beyer Speed Figure of 83. Compton said Kinzie Queen’s fifth-place finish in the Fantasy may have been the result of her running back in 13 days.
Compton claimed Kinzie Queen out of a win for maiden $50,000 claiming from Asmussen last November. Kinzie Queen’s win last month was her first for Compton.
“The race we got in that last allowance is what I’ve been looking for since we claimed her,” Compton said. “The way she ran that day, I think the added distance wouldn’t be a problem.”
Princess Aliyah, trained by D. Wayne Lukas, won the Valley of the Vapors at Oaklawn and came back two weeks later to finish 10th of 11 in the Grade 2 Eight Belles. This is another two-week turnaround.
Paris Lily and Liam in the Dust ran one-two in a first-level allowance on April 6 at Keeneland. Paris Lily won in gate-to-wire fashion, and she could play out as the main speed in a Black-Eyed Susan that appears to be lacking pace.
“She’s doing really well,” Walsh said. “She’s working a lot better than she did at any point through the year. I’m looking forward to running her, actually. She’s really started to work well.”
Reply and Moon Cache finished second and third in the Weber City Miss Stakes on April 19 at Laurel. Reply, trained by Brittany Russell, is making just her third career start.
Moon Cache goes out for Michael Gorham, who claimed the filly for $40,000 three starts back. Gorham is looking forward to running Moon Cache 1 1/8 miles.
“The last time it was a mile and a sixteenth and she was running at the end,” Gorham said. “If the last race was a mile and an eighth, she might have won.”
The Black-Eyed Susan goes as race 13 on a 14-race that begins at 11:30 a.m. and features six stakes, including the Grade 3, $250,000 Pimlico Special for older males.
– additional reporting by Nicole Russo
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