Airline nearly keeps Bejarano from Black-Eyed Susan win

Baltimore

Rafael Bejarano learned firsthand Friday what hell airline travel has become in 2023. He came within 20 minutes of finding out the hard way.

“I was lucky, because I almost missed my plane and everything,” Bejarano said after he found a more reliable form of transportation Friday evening. It was a filly named Taxed.

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Arriving in the jockeys room at Pimlico as the nine 3-year-old fillies were being saddled, Bejarano gathered himself for the 11-1 upset win in the Grade 2, $300,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes.

A 3-year-old gray-roan daughter of Collected, Taxed closed from sixth in the field of nine, turned four wide into the stretch and ran on her wrong lead until the sixteenth pole. By the time she made the switch, she had powered her way into first place and was driving to a 3 3/4-length victory over Hoosier Philly (6-1) with previously undefeated Faiza (3-5) finishing a distant third.

But back to Bejarano’s nightmare. Flying from Kentucky, he wound up at Reagan National Airport 50 miles away in Washington instead of Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport just 20 miles from the track.

“They took me to the other airport,” Bejarano said. “I got to (Pimlico) about 25 or 30 minutes before. I had to run fast with everything I’ve got. I was lucky. I was lucky.”

Add D.C. traffic in between, and a half-hour drive becomes an hour-and-a-half. And a close, close call.

“I didn’t know that,” winning trainer Randy Morse said.

What Morse did know was he had a filly who showed a lot of improvement when she finished second to Wet Paint last month in the Fantasy (G3) at Oaklawn. She closed with a strong finish there. Stretching another 110 yards to get Friday’s 1 1/8 miles looked right in step with Taxed’s closing style.

“If you look at her last race, she did that, too,” said Morse, who became Taxed’s trainer when she was claimed by Richard Bahde for $50,000 after a November claiming race at Churchill Downs. That was the Kentucky-bred filly’s only win until Friday.

It also was Taxed’s second strong performance in a row going without blinkers.

“She was just always pulling,” Morse said. “Too rank. Because every time she ran, she looked like she was going to win, and she just didn’t have any finish. As you see now that she’s relaxing behind horses and settling, it’s made a huge difference.”

Taxed was as many as 3 3/4 lengths behind Hoosier Philly, who led the whole way until she was caught in the final sixteenth of a mile. She set fractions of 23.44, 47.24, 1:11.28 and 1:36.36 before Taxed passed her and won with a time of 1:49.45 on a sunbaked, fast main track.

“Édgar (Morales) rode a fabulous race on her,” Hoosier Philly’s trainer Tom Amoss said. “We were able to control the pace. Look, when he turned for home, and he peeked over his shoulder, I got that feeling that you can’t buy. I thought we were going to win. We just had one that was better than us today.”

It was still a big improvement for the Into Mischief filly who went 3-for-3 as a 2-year-old only to flop as a heavy favorite in both the Rachel Alexandra (G2) and the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2).

“Maybe I had a little egg on my face proclaiming her as the best I’ve trained,” Amoss said. “I think we’re on the road to proving that again.”

Faiza lost for the first time after five wins in California, including last month’s 6 1/2-length runaway in the Santa Anita Oaks (G2).

“She broke well and was in a good spot,” her trainer Bob Baffert said. “When the running started, she did not have that kick that she usually has. She ran a good race. She just wasn’t good enough today. We are still trying to figure her out.”

One thing the Black-Eyed Susan’s top three had in common was their conspicuous absence from the Kentucky Oaks (G1). Taxed missed out on a tiebreaker in the qualifying standings. Hoosier Philly’s poor results at Fair Grounds caught up with her. Faiza was ineligible because of Baffert’s suspension from Churchill Downs.

“That’s the past,” Morse said. “You’ve got to press forward.”