LAUREL, Md. – Much like its male counterpart, the Preakness, Friday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Black-Eyed Susan for 3-year-old fillies is a wide-open affair, lacking the division’s top-tier talent but potentially offering bettors value.
There is not a graded stakes winner among the 10 fillies entered in the 1 1/8-mile race, which goes as race 13 on a 14-race program. That, on its own, makes this a much easier spot than the Kentucky Oaks, a race in which My Miss Mo was entered but ultimately scratched by trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.
“Competition-wise, this is a much better spot,” said Joseph. “She should be the second choice or possibly the favorite.”
My Miss Mo, a daughter of Uncle Mo, is coming off a second-place finish in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks on March 28, her first try around two turns. My Miss Mo set the pace that day and was overtaken by Prom Queen, a Brad Cox trainee who finished fifth in the Kentucky Oaks.
“I thought it was a good effort,” Joseph said. “Brad’s filly was really good that day.”
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My Miss Mo will have to overcome the outside draw and the potential of other pace horses in the field.
The Black-Eyed Susan looks like a good spot for trainer Steve Asmussen to take a shot with Braken Poppa, a filly who has won four consecutive Louisiana-bred races, including two stakes. Though she has not run beyond a mile and 70 yards, all four of her wins have come around two turns.
“Off a very successful Fair Grounds meet, I wanted to take a nice swing,” Asmussen said.
Ivy Girl and Holly’s Holiday enter the Black-Eyed Susan off eye-catching victories at big prices at Laurel and Oaklawn Park, respectively.
Ivy Girl, trained by Amelia Green, rallied from last to win the Weber City Miss going 1 1/16 miles here on April 18. Prior to that, Ivy Girl won the Main Line Stakes at Parx, also rallying from last. Both of those wins have come since Green added blinkers to the filly’s equipment.
Green credited jockey Victor Carrasco for persevering with Ivy Girl in the Weber City Miss.
“At the half-mile pole, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he eased her up. Any other jockey would have thought they had no chance – all credit to him,” Green said. “We told him he’d be pedaling the whole way. We didn’t think he would be pedaling from that far back the whole way.”
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The impetus to use blinkers came after Ivy Girl finished second to fellow Black-Eyed Susan entrant Miss Fulton in an allowance race here in February. Miss Fulton came back to win the Beyond the Wire Stakes before finishing fourth to Ivy Girl in the Weber City Miss. A. P.’s Girl, second in the Weber City Miss after winning two straight races at Fair Grounds, is also in the Black-Eyed Susan for trainer Peter Eurton.
Holly’s Holiday, trained by Kenny McPeek, won the one-mile Valley of the Vapors Stakes at odds of 21-1. She showed good speed out of the gate but was comfortable being taken back by Emmanuel Esquivel before splitting horses at the top of the lane and edging clear.
“She’s got a bit of natural speed if you need it, but she’ll stalk too,” McPeek said. “Her first race [this year], she was only 80 percent fit and managed to dead-heat for the win. She took a step forward and I expect another step forward. She’s trained exceptional. My filly’s going to want the extra ground too.”
Flavien Prat rides Holly’s Holiday, a sister to Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks winner Velocity.
Jumping the Gun, second to Zany in the Grade 2 Demoiselle at Aqueduct last December, came off a planned five-month layoff in the Weber City Miss and finished third as the 6-5 favorite. Trainer Andrew Simoff said he was disappointed in the effort because he thought he had her fit enough off the layoff.
“I thought the last time, that was a great spot, didn’t seem real tough,” Simoff said. “She got hung wide, made a little bit of a premature move. I thought she could have overcome all that and she didn’t. I was disappointed.”
Simoff, who has Luis Saez to ride, likes the way Jumping the Gun has trained leading up to this spot.
Majestic Lucia, a daughter of McKinzie, has won two straight races for trainer Victor Barboza Jr. One of those wins was a first-level allowance at Tampa Bay Downs on April 4 that produced two next-out winners, albeit one in a $20,000 claiming race.
Savor It, a recent allowance winner at Parx for Uriah St. Lewis, and Haute Diva, last in the Gulfstream Oaks last out, complete the field.
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