Panty Raid scores in Black-Eyed Susan

BALTIMORE - Under a confident ride from Edgar Prado, Panty Raid surged past the front-running favorite Baroness Thatcher inside the eighth pole, then was kept to steady pressure to defeat Winning Point in the Grade 2, $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico Race Course on Friday.

After breaking cleanly from post 2 in a field of eight 3-year-old fillies, Panty Raid saved ground on both turns of the 1 1/8-mile race before angling out for the drive. Baroness Thatcher, ridden by Garrett Gomez, clung grimly to the lead as she passed the furlong pole, but she was no match for the steady run of Panty Raid, who prevailed by a length over Winning Point, the 3-1 third choice. Baroness Thatcher, the 17-10 favorite, was another neck back in third.

The winner returned $6.80 as second choice after finishing in 1:50.07 over a fast track.

"We broke sharp and I was very happy," said Prado, who was a perennial leading rider in Maryland before leaving for New York in 1999. "When I tapped her at the top of the stretch, she changed leads, and I was happy again."

Owned by the Glencrest Farm of the Greathouse family of Kentucky, Panty Raid was coming off an entry-level allowance victory last month at Keeneland. Before that, she was a fast-closing second when narrowly beaten in her lone previous stakes attempt, the Bourbonette Stakes at Keeneland.

Todd Pletcher is the trainer of Panty Raid, who was an easy winner of her lone start at 2 before being brought back to the races in February at Gulfstream. The filly now has won 3 of 5 career starts.

"I don't know that she quickened as much as she stayed on the same pace," said Pletcher. "Sometimes that's what makes the good ones, the ones that carry their speed over a distance of ground."

Panty Raid, a $275,000 purchase as a 2-year-old, is by Include, the former Maryland standout who was trained by Richard Small.

After Baroness Thatcher, the order of finish was Moon Catcher, Fibbalator, Enchanting Star, Grace Happens, and Fee Fi Fo Fum.