Strong entries for Black-Eyed Susan day stakes
A capacity field of 14 older horses has been entered for the Pimlico Special, which will share the spotlight with the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes on a 14-race Preakness eve card Friday at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.
Rally Cry and Flameaway are among the recognizable names in a remarkably deep renewal of the Pimlico Special, which is carded as race 10 and directly precedes the Black-Eyed Susan (race 11). The Black-Eyed Susan has Always Shopping and Point of Honor as likely favorites in a field of nine 3-year-old fillies.
In all, 16 stakes are on tap this weekend at Pimlico – seven on Friday and nine on Saturday, Preakness Day.
First post Friday is 11:30 a.m. Eastern.
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In reverse order, here’s a quick rundown of all the Friday stakes:
Grade 3, $150,000 Allaire DuPont (race 13, 5:57): Another Broad, a last-out winner of the Top Flight at Aqueduct for Todd Pletcher, is among the seven fillies and mares entered in this 1 1/8-mile race. My Miss Lilly, third as the Top Flight favorite, is among the challengers, along with Golden Award and a pair of last-out Keeneland allowance winners, Gio Game and Mylady Curlin.
$100,000 Jim McKay Turf Sprint (race 12, 5:25): Bound for Nowhere, who avoided World of Trouble when scratched from the Twin Spires Turf Sprint on the Kentucky Oaks card, will have Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard when likely to come favored over Pure Sensation (Jose Ortiz) in this five-furlong turf race. Nine older horses are entered.
Grade 2, $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan (race 11, 4:48): Always Shopping (Manny Franco) was purposely withheld by Pletcher from the Kentucky Oaks to await this 1 1/8-mile race, but that’s not the case with Point of Honor (Javier Castellano), who failed to make it off the Oaks also-eligibles list. They’re the principals in a lineup that also includes Cookie Dough and Las Setas.
Grade 3, $300,000 Pimlico Special (race 10, 4:14): There’s no clear-cut favorite in this race, which is being run at a new distance of 1 1/4 miles (a sixteenth-mile farther than its previous distance). Rally Cry (John Velazquez) comes well drawn in post 2 as the beaten favorite in the rich Charles Town Classic last month for Pletcher, but he’ll simply have to do better when facing such rivals as Flameaway, Carlino, Heavy Roller, Cordmaker, and more.
$100,000 Hilltop (race 9, 3:43): This one-mile turf race for 3-year-old fillies also drew the limit of 14 starters, with the uncoupled Chad Brown duo of Nova Sol (Irad Ortiz Jr.) and Dogtag (Castellano) likely to draw major play. Other contenders include Makeme Dream, Ebullient, and Orra Moor.
Grade 3, $150,000 Miss Preakness (race 8, 3:13): Covfefe (Castellano) and Fighting Mad (Florent Geroux), both last-out winners in Kentucky, are part of an oversubscribed lineup of 3-year-old fillies in this six-furlong race. A terrific field also includes local standouts Please Flatter Me, Congrats Gal, and Never Enough Time, as well as New York shippers Miss Imperial and Sue’s Fortune. Thirteen are entered but only as many as 12 can start.
$100,000 Skipat (race 7, 2:39): Chalon, with Castellano riding for trainer Arnaud Delacour, will be making her first start since being defeated just a head in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint when likely to come a solid favorite in a six-furlong race that drew 10 fillies and mares.
