BALTIMORE – Neither rain nor hail nor the gloom of early evening could keep trainer Brad Cox from the winner’s circle following a stakes race for 3-year-old fillies.
Margie’s Intention, a recent addition to Cox's barn following a private purchase in late March, reeled in the loose-on-the-lead Paris Lily to win Friday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Black-Eyed Susan at soggy Pimlico by three-quarters of a length. The Black-Eyed Susan was delayed 78 minutes, the result of a rain storm – complete with hail, thunder and lightning – that led to shelter-in-place notice, the evacuation of the Pimlico infield, and forced the cancellation of the 14th and final race.
The Black-Eyed Susan win came two weeks after Good Cheer captured the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs for Cox. Good Cheer ran her record to 7 for 7, which includes victories this year in the Fair Grounds Oaks and Rachel Alexandra. Cox also trains Immersive, who won three Grade 1s in 2024 to be crowned champion 2-year-old filly and who is working her way back after being sidelined by injury.
Margie’s Intention, a Louisiana-bred daughter of Honor A.P., had two wins and two seconds from five starts, all this winter at Fair Grounds. Margie's Intention was owned previously solely by Baron Stables, managed by Tom Mueller. WinStar Farm purchased 75 percent interest in the filly following her runner-up finish to Blue Fire in the Crescent City Oaks on March 22.
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Elliott Walden, president of WinStar, said the filly came recommended to him by Jerry Brown of Thoro-Graph, but Walden said he and David Hanley, who buys horses for WinStar, remembered looking at the filly at the 2-year-old OBS April sale, from which she was purchased for $185,000.
“We liked her quite a bit at the 2-year-old sale. She was a gorgeous filly then, so we knew about her and that’s what made me want to buy her,” Walden said.
Walden said the Black-Eyed Susan became a target because after Margie’s Intention ran five times from December through March, he felt the eight weeks between races would be beneficial.
One of Margie’s Intention’s wins came in the slop at Fair Grounds. So Friday, when the rains came and turned the track sloppy, that wasn’t a big concern to her connections.
Margie’s Intention, under Flavien Prat, broke a step slow but was within four lengths of the lead downside as Paris Lily, under Joel Rosario, set the pace stalked by Liam in the Dust, that pair having run one-two in an allowance race in the slop at Keeneland on April 6. Prat had Margie’s Intention on the inside, with a couple of rivals to her outside, but within four lengths of the lead.
Approaching the top of the stretch, Paris Lily appeared to be getting away, but Prat switched Margie’s Intention to the outside and she needed the length of the stretch to get past the front-runner, who switched back to her left lead late.
Margie’s Intention won by three-quarters of a length over Paris Lily, who finished second by 1 1/4 lengths over a closing Kinzie Queen. Reply finished fourth, followed by Amarth, Liam in the Dust, Princess Aliyah, Moon Cache, and Runnin N Gunnin.
Margie’s Intention covered the 1 1/8 miles over the sealed, sloppy track in 1:52.05 and returned $7 as the favorite.
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“Honestly, turning for home, it looked like the leader was going very well. I thought if she could open up on me, I don’t think I was going to make it,” Prat said. “But as we turned for home and she swapped leads, she kept grinding, and it felt like the filly in front didn’t open up on me. So going to the eighth pole, I thought I had a chance.”
Cox, watching the race on a paddock television at Pimlico, said he thought the quick early fractions were going to catch up to Paris Lily at some point, enabling his filly to get there.
“I know Joel sits very well on a horse and I knew he’d have something left. [I] just didn’t know much and that filly ran a big race,” Cox said. “We just needed the whole mile and an eighth to get by.”
Brendan Walsh, trainer of Paris Lily, said his filly ran the style of race he wanted and just got caught.
“We set out to do what we did and it nearly worked,” Walsh said. “Maybe lost her concentration a little bit down to the line.”
By winning Friday, Margie’s Intention likely earned a shot at a Grade 1 opportunity at some point in the year, Cox said.
“She went in the deep end of the pool today and she responded. This is a big win, a Grade 2,” Cox said. “We’ll at some point ask her to step up. [I'm] not sure when that race will be or what that race will be, but at some point we’ll give her a shot against the big ones.”
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