Black-Eyed Susan Day Program Registers Sharp Increases in Handle, Attendance

BALTIMORE, MD., 05/15/15 – The beneficiary of a cagy ride by Javier Castellano, Stonestreet Stables’ Keen Pauline pulled off a 15-1 upset in Friday’s $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (G2) at Pimlico Race Course.

The 91^st running of the stakes for 3-year-old fillies was the centerpiece of Friday’s 14-race Black-Eyed Susan Day program that generated steep increases in handle and attendance. An all-sources handle of $18.488 million topped last year’s handle of $11.346 million for a 63-percent increase. A crowd of 42,700 was a 23-percent increase over 2014’s attendance of 34,736.

Keen Pauline ($32.80), who had won only one of five prior races, broke alertly from the starting gate and quickly assumed an unchallenged lead along the front-stretch and around the first turn. Alone on the lead aboard the daughter of Pulpit, Castellano backed off the pace. Allowed to post leisurely fractions of 24.37 (seconds), 49.09 and 1:13 for six furlongs while stalked to her outside by long shot Gypsy Judy and tracked by Luminance, the 6-5 favorite in a field of nine fillies, along the rail.

After straightening into the stretch, Keen Pauline was finally asked to pick up the pace and she spurted clear of the pack, as Gypsy Judy and Luminance began to give way. The Dale Romans-trained filly was never threatened thereafter as she continued on to a 2 ¾-length victory in the 1 1/8-mile feature.

“What more can you say? You have the best of the best on the horse. He knew how fast he was going. That helped a lot,” said Tammy Fox, assistant to trainer Dale Romans. “When you can see a horse’s ears just pricked like that and he’s sitting. He did a great job on her.”

Include Betty, who trailed the field along the backstretch under jockey Drayden Van Dyke, closed well through the stretch to finish second, a half-length ahead of third-place finisher Ahh Chocolate and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. Kaleem Shah’s Luminance faded to fifth under jockey Martin Garcia.

“I told [Garcia], ‘You just took her best weapon away from her.’ She needed the lead,” said Baffert, who is set to saddle Kentucky Derby winner American Pharoah and Dortmund in Saturday’s 140^th Preakness at Pimlico. “She couldn’t get it, so after that she wasn’t effective at all. We would have preferred to be on the lead.”

Keen Pauline ran the 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.46 while winning her stakes debut.

“You have to take advantage when anything happens in a race. I didn’t expect to be on the lead. I saw a lot of speed in the race. I thought that Martin Garcia had the speed and was going to dictate the pace. He broke OK and didn’t send his horse to the lead,” said Castellano, the two-time defending Eclipse Award-winning jockey. “My horse broke so well out of the gate I dictated the pace and I enjoyed the ride.”

The connections of runner-up Include Betty were particularly impressed with their filly’s performance while closing into slow fractions.

“She couldn’t have run any better. We had the best filly in there, but they crawled through the first part of it,” said Timothy C. Thornton, who owns the daughter of Include in partnership with Brereton Jones. “She needs something to run at, but we were happy with it.”
 

        BLACK-EYED SUSAN QUOTES

Assistant Tammy Fox to winning trainer Dale Romans (Keen Pauline): “Dale took his time with her in Florida. She had a couple of months off. She came back for the Keeneland race and it set her up perfect for this race here. Yesterday, when I galloped her over this surface, she loved it. She loved everything about it.”

(On Javier Castellano’s ride): “What more can you say? You have the best of the best on the horse. He knew how fast he was going. That helped a lot. When you can see a horse’s ears just pricked like that and he’s sitting. He did a great job on her.”

Winning Jockey Javier Castellano (Keen Pauline): “You have to take advantage when anything happens in a race. I didn’t expect to be on the lead. I saw a lot of speed in the race. I thought that Martin Garcia on (Luminance) had the speed and was going to dictate the pace. He broke OK and didn’t send his horse to the lead. My horse broke so well out of the gate I dictated the pace and I enjoyed the ride.”

Co-owner Timothy C. Thornton (Include Betty, 2^nd): “She couldn’t have run any better. We had the best filly in there, but they crawled through the first part of it. She needs something to run at, but we were happy with it.”

Jockey Drayden Van Dyke (Include Betty, 2^nd): “There was no pace in the race. She really had to run well for us to get up for second. But that’s her style. She likes to come from out of it. We tried to stay clear and not get stopped and get that run out of her at end.”

Trainer Neil Howard (Ahh Chocolate, 3^rd): “For a filly with only three races I thought she ran very well. The slow pace definitely didn’t help us, but I was happy with the way she ran.”

Brian Hernandez Jr. (Ahh Chocolate, 3^rd): “The pace was definitely slow and that hurt our chances. When I called on her she responded well. I would have loved to have won, but I was happy with what she did today.”

Trainer Jorge Navarro (Danessa Deluxe, 4^th): “I’m very disappointed. They were walking. I was hoping we’d be closer.”

Jockey John Velazquez (Danessa Deluxe, 4^th): “It was a horrible trip for me. The pace was slow. The horse in front of me was taken back. I was stuck, literally. My horse never really had a chance to run until the eighth pole and by then it was too late.”

Trainer Bob Baffert (Luminance, 5^th):  “I told (Martin Garcia), ‘You just took her best weapon away from her.’ She needed the lead. She couldn’t get it, so after that she wasn’t effective at all. We would have preferred to be on the lead.”

Jockey Martin Garcia (Luminance, 5^th):  “We never got to the front. That’s all.”

Trainer James Cassidy (Pure, 6th): “There was no pace, and then 18-wide. I expected her to be a little closer earlier, but they went 49 (seconds) for the half. She's all right, this filly. The distance is certainly in her favor.''

Jockey Victor Espinoza (Pure, 6th): “She don't really like this track. As soon as she breaks, she breaks slow. The race was over as soon as she came out of the gate. She was having a hard time with the track.''

Trainer Ian Wilkes (Sweetgrass, 7^th): “She’s going to learn from this. She pulled hard early and maybe got a little confused. Then, she came on again.”

Jockey Julien Leparoux (Sweetgrass, 7^th): “It was a little tight going into the first turn, but after that she was traveling good. When we got to the three-eighths pole, she started spinning her wheels a little bit, but she came back on at the end.”

Trainer Robin Graham (Gypsy Judy, 8th): “We were very pleased with the way she ran today. We got the fractions that we wanted, but she just got tired at the end.”

Horacio Karamanos (Gypsy Judy, 8th): “We had a really good trip. We were in great position all the way around. She gave me a good kick at the end, but once (Keen Pauline) went by her, she just flattened out.”

Trainer Ramon Morales (Devine Aida, 9th):  “I think she got a perfect trip. The only thing the rider told me was that she’s a grass horse. No excuses.”

Jockey Jesus Rios (Devine Aida, 9th): “She’s a turf horse, really she is. She didn’t like the surface today.”