First of 6 Stakes, 4 Graded, Worth $1.05 Million on Black-Eyed Susan Card

BALTIMORE – Marylou Whitney Stables’ homebred Super Quick, left alone up front to dictate her own terms, flirted with both the track and stakes record while rolling to her first stakes victory in Friday’s $150,000 Allaire du Pont Distaff (G3) at historic Pimlico Race Course.

The 29th running of the 1 1/8-mile Allaire du Pont for fillies and mares 3-years old and up was the first of six stakes, four graded, worth $1.05 million in purses on a sensational 14-race Black-Eyed Susan Day program headlined by the 98th edition of the 1 1/8-mile fixture for 3-year-old fillies.

Ridden by Florent Geroux for trainer Norm Casse, Super Quick ($6.20) went gate to wire in 1:47.78 over a fast main track. The stakes record for 1 1/8 miles – the du Pont had also been contested at 1 1/16 miles between 2002 and 2013 – is 1:47.64, set by Mylady Curlin in 2019. The track record of 1:47.20 was established by Private Terms in 1989.

Geroux hustled Super Quick, a 4-year-old daughter of 2010 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Super Saver, to the lead and they cruised through a quarter of a mile in 23.53 seconds, a half in 46.39 and six furlongs in 1:09.92. Exotic West, the 3-2 favorite, got pinched back in the early stages and raced in last down the backstretch before making a belated move around the turn to try and catch Super Quick, who opened up through the lane to win by 14 ¼ lengths.

Exotic West was a length ahead of Frost Point in third, followed by Click to Confirm and Into Vanishing. Lil Kings Princess was scratched.

Out of the Cape Town mare Quick Town, Super Quick won for the fourth time in 11 career starts. She dead-heated for third in her stakes debut, the Doubledogdare (G3) April 22 at Keeneland.

The du Pont honors the late avid sportswoman and horsewoman best known as the owner of Hall of Famer Kelso, the unprecedented and unsurpassed winner of five consecutive Horse of the Year championships from 1960-64.

$150,000 Allaire du Pont (G3) Quotes

Winning trainer Norm Casse, Super Quick: “We knew early on this morning when Johnny Ortiz’s filly [Lil Kings Princess No. 5] scratched, we were going to have a much better shot of letting her get into her rhythm. I am not so sure she is a need-the-lead-type horse but she is certainly better when she can get comfortable early. And that is what she did today. I have been lobbying for a couple months to get her in a nine-furlong race. Conventional wisdom would say a stretch-out would make it a little more difficult, but I think it’s easier for her.

“Truthfully, I could not see the fractions but it seemed like she was just rolling along. I was just letting it sink in. I thought she would run like that today and I am glad she did. I am very proud of her.”

(The Fleur de Lis at Churchill Downs July 2 is a next-race target)

Winning jockey Florent Geroux, Super Quick: “I never saw anyone. I took a peek at the three-eighths pole and there was already a bit of a gap between my horse and the second-place horse. When I called on her at the top of the lane, she gave me another gear. She was all business all the way to the wire. To be honest, [trainer] Norm [Casse] thought she'd run a big race. He thought it would be a perfect racetrack for her with the tight turns. She runs the turns very well. He said, ‘Just take it to them, and if she wants to open up, let her do it.’”

Jockey Javier Castellano, Exotic West, 2nd: “These fillies went at a really fast pace today – 23 (seconds), 46, 1:09-and-4. The winner was much the best today. I really liked the way my filly did it today. She made a great effort – just second best.”