Pimlico notes: Pair of talented, but lightly raced, fillies meet in Black-Eyed Susan

Barbara D. Livingston

In Lingerie will make her fourth career start in Friday's Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan.

Two fillies who were considered potential major players in the Kentucky Oaks – Mamma Kimbo and In Lingerie – but instead bypassed the race will be the favorites in the Black-Eyed Susan on the Friday undercard. Last year, the 1 1/8-mile race was won by the eventual 3-year-old filly champion, Royal Delta.

In Lingerie is one of two fillies in the nine-horse field trained by Todd Pletcher, with Disposablepleasure the other. In Lingerie was an impressive winner of the Bourbonette Oaks at Turfway Park last out.

“We flirted with the idea of the Kentucky Oaks, but we felt like, with a filly that had only three starts, that perhaps this was a better progression for her,” said Pletcher. “She has trained very well.”

Similarly, Mamma Kimbo, trained by Bob Baffert, was withheld from the Oaks partly because of her inexperience (two career starts) and because the May 4 Oaks came up a bit quick following her victory in the April 11 Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn Park.

The Black-Eyed Susan (race 10) is a big part of a day when females – equine and human – will be spotlighted by Pimlico. Most of the undercard races are for fillies and/or mares, while two separate events will focus on female jockeys: the third annual Lady Legends for the Cure goes as race 4, while a female jockey challenge (races 2, 3, 5, 7) with a parimutuel pool also will be offered. Among the riders in for the challenge are Rosie Napravnik, Rosemary Homeister Jr., Emma-Jayne Wilson, and Greta Kuntzweiler.

Five is enough

Doug O’Neill, trainer of I’ll Have Another, willingly concedes that the Kentucky Derby winner will be the second choice in the Preakness behind Bodemeister, who was a lukewarm 4-1 favorite when finishing second in the Derby.

Bodemeister, said O’Neill, “has all that speed, and he’s got a Hall of Fame jockey and trainer,” referring to Mike Smith and Baffert. “I think everybody can see why he’ll be the favorite.”

O’Neill was lavishing praise on Baffert, his Southern California cohort, when saying he has “won the Preakness like six or seven times.” When gently corrected and told that Baffert had won the Preakness a mere five times, O’Neill smiled. “Well, hopefully it’ll stay at five,” he said.

The record for Preakness wins is held by Robert Walden, who won the race seven times in the final quarter of the 19th century. Baffert, D. Wayne Lukas, and Thomas Healey are tied for second with five wins each.

Six undercard races Saturday

While entries for the Preakness were to be drawn Wednesday at 6 p.m. Eastern in the International Pavilion in the Pimlico infield, six other stakes were to be drawn earlier in the day.

Those supporting stakes Saturday are the $300,000 Dixie Stakes, the $150,000 Gallorette Handicap, and four $100,000 races: the James W. Murphy, Allaire DuPont Distaff, Chick Lang, and Maryland Sprint Handicap.

Pimlico is calling it a 13-race card (first post 10:30 a.m.), but there also is an Arabian race, the $75,000 President of the United Arab Emirates Cup, which will be run as a “special wagering event” between the third and fourth races.

* Horse Racing Radio Network (HRRN) is providing eight hours of live coverage here this weekend, starting with a 4-6 p.m. Eastern segment on Friday and ending with Preakness coverage from 5-7 p.m. on Saturday. Mike Penna is the anchor.

Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (G2), Post Time: 4:46 ET Friday

Purse: $300,000; 1 1/8 miles