After 'freak deal,' Red Ruby recovers, wins Black-Eyed Susan

Trainer Kellyn Gorder called it a “freak deal” when his Red Ruby spooked earlier this spring in the shed row and fled, dragging her hotwalker before crashing into a metal ladder. The filly required time off to heal up cuts that required 13 stitches.

That knocked the daughter of Tiznow off the Kentucky Oaks trail but put her in a historically friendly position otherwise, entered in a stakes race off a layoff.

Red Ruby delivered Friday in the slop, stalking the early pace before rolling to a win in Pimlico Race Course’s featured Grade 2, $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan on the eve of the Preakness Stakes.

"I put her second and she was very comfortable," said jockey Paco Lopez. "I waited for her until the three-eighths, I looked and no one was coming. I said, ‘I got to go,’ and she finished very well today.”

“I knew I had that much horse and I was waiting for somebody to show up, but they never showed up, so I let her go.”

Red Ruby broke her maiden in November at Churchill Downs, took a bit more than two months away from the races and returned to win Oaklawn Park's Martha Washington Stakes on slop. This time, she took another two-plus months due to the injury and again won a stakes race off the bench, plus over a wet track.

Last time out, Red Ruby was fourth in Oaklawn's Honeybee (G3).

“We knew she liked the off going," the trainer, Gorder, said. "In the Honeybee she got really hot in the post parade, so I trained her this morning. That's just about the only thing I did different. Normally, I don't do that; it depends on the horse. I just took her out there and jogged her right off the straight the right way and let her slow gallop around the backside and the turn and let her go through her gears, up to third gear, and shut her down.

"I think that might have helped her. She was really good in the paddock. She was kind of pushing the pony around and was a little nervous but then she would walk a little while and settle."

Indy Union hit the wire third behind Coach Rocks as Red Ruby finished 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.17. She returned $7.80 to win as a 5-2 co-favorite.

Red Ruby improved her record to 5: 3-1-0 for owners Sandra Sexton, Brandi Nicholson and Steven Nicholson.

Previous graded stakes winner Midnight Disguise scratched due to a foot bruise, leaving a field of nine in the Black-Eyed Susan.