Black-Eyed Susan has long been in Sadler plan

BALTIMORE - Much has been made of the exacting plan trainer Michael Matz designed for Barbaro to get him to the Kentucky Derby. In much the same way, trainer John Sadler is hoping the long-term plan he outlined with She's an Eleven will result in a victory on Friday in the Grade 2, $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Pimlico.

After captured a maiden race at Santa Anita on March 2, Sadler decided to point for the Black-Eyed Susan, and with one prep before then, at Hollywood Park.

"It's like with the Derby," Sadler said on Wednesday from California, where he is based. "Everybody wants to run in that race, and you see what happens with the next race. With the fillies, everybody wants to run in the Kentucky Oaks, and it's even harder for fillies to come back two weeks later. We thought the division might lighten up a little after the Oaks."

In fact, She's an Eleven is catching a field that will not have one runner from the 14-horse Kentucky Oaks. Red Cherries Spin, who was sixth in that race, was entered in the 1 1/8-mile Black-Eyed Susan, but she will be scratched, according to her trainer, Bernie Flint.

"It's too quick back," Flint said Wednesday from Churchill Downs. "I'm not coming."

So, She's an Eleven will face only six rivals as she makes her first start in a graded stakes and against open company. She is seeking her third straight victory. After crushing maidens by 11 1/4 lengths on March 2, she tuned up for the Black-Eyed Susan with a 9 1/4-length victory in the Melair Stakes on April 30 at Hollywood Park. All of her races have been against California-breds.

"We've always been high on her," Sadler said. "She was a little backwards. She'd pull herself up. We always felt she'd be better around two turns. She's just learning how to run."

News of Red Cherries Spin's defection was welcomed by Tom Amoss, who sends out . She was privately purchased following a fourth-place finish in the Honeybee at Oaklawn Park.

"There's not a lot of speed outside of us now," Amoss said from Kentucky. "We should be in a good position and not be too crowded."

, who comes off a second-place finish in the Comely Stakes at Aqueduct, could be the main threat to She's an Eleven. She has 2 wins and 2 seconds this year, and should be forwardly placed in a race without much pace.

Saratoga Drive finished second in the Florida Oaks, but then flopped in Keeneland's Ashland Stakes, finishing 33 3/4 lengths behind while beating one horse.

"I guess we'll have to blame the racetrack," said her trainer, Rick Violette. "She just didn't run. She came out of it all right."