Margie’s Intention closes to win a wet Black-Eyed Susan
Baltimore
After a thunderstorm Friday delayed the Grade 2, $300,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes for 67 minutes, there was a veritable stream running along the homestretch rail. It did not look like the place to be.
It must have been just fine up the backstretch for Margie’s Intention. Flavien Prat rode her in mid-pack along the rail before he approached the standing water coming out of the second turn. He said he did not intentionally avoid fording the stream, but by going wide, Prat kept the 5-2 post-time favorite safely along the makeshift shoreline.
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Whether it was strategy or good luck, or whether it even would have mattered, it all worked out in the end.
Racing for the first time away from Louisiana-bred company and even away from Louisiana, Margie’s Intention reeled in pacesetter Paris Lily (5-1) and her jockey Joel Rosario in the last six strides of what turned out to be a three-quarter-length victory. It gave her new trainer Brad Cox his second win in the Black-Eyed Susan.
“She did make me work for it,” said Prat, a first-time winner in the race for 3-year-old fillies. “Once I turned behind (Paris Lily), I thought I was in a good spot. It looked like Joel was going very easy turning for home, but my filly was brave enough to dig in.”
Paris Lily, a Godolphin homebred City of Light filly, saved ground the whole 1 1/8 miles around the sloppy, sealed main track at Pimlico. She switched to her left lead in the final strides and grudgingly settled for second.
“She kicked for home, but the outside horse was too much at the end,” Rosario said.
It must have been a bitter pill for Brendan Walsh to swallow. He trains Paris Lily. He used to train Margie’s Intention.
“It’s a little unfortunate she got collared but ran great,” Walsh said about Paris Lily. “No complaints. We set out to do what we did, and it (almost) worked. We can’t complain. We went to the lead. They were right behind us. (Rosario) did what he had to do. He said she ran great. She just got a little leg-weary the last 50 yards.”
In her first race for Cox, Margie’s Intention was pushed past her longest previous start of one mile and 70 yards. That was last out March 22 in a second-place finish for Walsh in the Crescent City Oaks at Fair Grounds.
“We thought she would like the mile-and-an-eighth,” Cox said, “and she pretty much needed all of it to get there. Turning for home I knew she had momentum going forward, and I knew (Paris Lily) had set a pretty solid pace, and she was tough to run down. She ran a big race.”
Kinzie Queen (9-1) closed from eighth to take third. Reply (9-2), Amarth (7-2), Liam in the Dust (6-1), Princess Aliyah (17-1), Moon Cache (32-1) and Runnin N Gunnin (10-1) completed the finish in that order.
Margie’s Intention’s winning time was 1:52.05 after Paris Lily’s early splits of 22.73, 46.38, 1:11.57 and 1:38.31.
A majority share of Margie’s Intention was bought recently by WinStar Farm from Baron Stable, which kept an ownership stake.
“Jerry Brown from Thoro-Graph really liked her,” WinStar boss Elliott Walden said. “We’d seen her at the (Ocala Breeders’ Sale) 2-year-old sale. ... We bought her privately (this spring) then turned her over to Brad. Brendan had done a great job with her. We have plenty of horses with Brad, and that was the only reason for the change.”
With the win, the daughter of Honor A. P. ran her record to 6: 3-2-0. With Friday’s $180,000 first-place money, she upped her purse earnings to $294,880. She broke her maiden in the slop at Fair Grounds, running away Jan. 18 by 11 lengths.
So about the weather. Did the sudden change in conditions impact Prat’s strategy?
“No,” Prat said. “I was going to ride her the same way. The only thing is I knew she won on sloppy, so I didn’t mind it.”
What is it they say about leading a horse to water?