Preakness 150: Margie’s Intention Rolls to Black-Eyed Susan (G2) Triumph

By David Joseph —-

MJC Photo

Margie’s Intention Rolls to Black-Eyed Susan (G2) Triumph

BALTIMORE – WinStar Farm and Baron Stable’s Margie’s Intention, in the first start for her new connections, came with a relentless run through the stretch to reel in stubborn pacesetter Paris Lily and register a popular three-quarter-length victory in Friday’s $300,000 George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan (G2) at Pimlico Race Course.

The 101st running of the 1 1/8-mile fixture for sophomore fillies was the centerpiece of a spectacular 13-race program featuring six stakes, three graded, worth $1.05 million in purses that served as a fitting prelude to Saturday’s 150th Preakness Stakes (G1), Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown.

A powerful storm system passed through the area causing the Black-Eyed Susan to be delayed more than an hour and forced track officials to cancel the Race 14 finale.

Favored at 5-2 in a field of nine, Margie’s Intention ($7) gave jockey Flavien Prat his third win of the day and second in a stakes following Play With Fire in the $125,000 Hilltop for trainer Brendan Walsh. Ironically, Walsh had trained Margie’s Intention for her first five starts – with two wins and two seconds – before WinStar bought controlling interest in the Honor A.P. filly and transferred her to Brad Cox.

Cox and Prat also won Friday’s opener with 3-year-old colt Verifire. Cox previously won the Black-Eyed Susan with Interstatedaydream in 2022.

Contested over a sealed main track turned sloppy from heavy rain that was accompanied by high winds and lightning, the Black-Eyed Susan saw Paris Lily – a front-running winner over a similar surface in her prior start April 6 at Keeneland – jump out to an early lead, going the opening quarter-mile in 22.73 seconds.

Margie’s Intention had settled in fourth along the rail and was fifth after a half-mile in 46.48 seconds when Prat gave his filly her cue, tipping her outside to get into intention. Paris Lily remained steadfast on the lead but could not hold off the closing favorite, who drew up on even terms in mid-stretch and edged clear to win in 1:52.05.

Paris Lily was 1 ¼ lengths ahead of Kinzie Queen in third. It was 4 ¼ lengths back to Reply in fourth, followed by Amarth, Liam in the Dust, Moon Cache and Runnin N Gunnin.

Racing exclusively against fellow Louisiana-breds at Fair Grounds, Margie’s Intention was making her debut in open company. She ran fourth in her mid-December unveiling before registering back-to-back wins and running second in a pair of stakes, the most recent coming March 22 after which she was sold.

Making its debut in 1919 as the Pimlico Oaks, the Black-Eyed Susan was not run from 1932-36 and again in 1950, and was renamed upon its 1951 return to honor the Preakness and Maryland’s state flower. Nine of its winners have gone on to be named champion 3-year-old filly including Hall of Famers Davona Dale, Real Delight, Royal Delta, Serena’s Song, Silverbulletday and Twilight Tear.

Among other prominent Black-Eyed Susan winners are Hall of Famer Gallorette; Nellie Morse, the only filly to also win the Preakness, in 1924; But Why Not, Caesar’s Wish, High Voltage, Vagrancy, Wide Country and Wistful.

$300,000 George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan (G2) Quotes

Winning Trainer Brad Cox (Margie’s Intention): –“We liked her a good bit. Elliott’s (Walden, President and CEO of WinStar Farm) team bought into her and it all paid off today. Obviously, a big win being a Grade 2 and we thought she would like the mile and an eighth and she pretty much needed all of it to get there. Turning for home, I knew she had momentum going forward and I knew the filly on the lead (Paris Lily) had set a pretty solid pace and she was tough to run down. She ran a big race. We haven’t had her that long, but she performed well on an off track this winter. I thought she moved forward today. It was a demanding race; she was under a ride turning for home and she finished the race off. We will ship her back to Kentucky Sunday evening and see how she comes out of it.”

Elliott Walden, President and CEO of winning co-owner WinStar Farm (Margie’s Intention): (This isn’t a typical WinStar purchase, a Louisiana-bred who had raced only in Louisiana-bred company. Tell us about her purchase.) Jerry Brown from Thoro-Graph really liked her. We’d seen her at the 2-year-old sale; we’d looked at her then. So, I knew quite a bit about her when he mentioned her, knew she was a really pretty filly. So, it made sense to us. We bought her privately, then turned her over to Brad (Cox). Brendan (Walsh) had done a great job with her. We have plenty of horses with Brad, and that was the only reason for the change. We looked at her race record, running every three weeks down there in all those Louisiana-bred stakes. You want to take opportunity when it’s there, if you’re a Louisiana-bred. So, we thought maybe giving her eight weeks and letting her catch up to herself would help her. And she ran super. Distance isn’t a problem, and we’l see where she takes us from here.”

Winning Jockey Flavien Prat (Margie’s Intention) – “It wasn’t quick, the first part. They kind of ran away from me and got to the first turn, and they kind of came back to me down the backside. She started going well. She started taking me.

“Then I was able to follow the Godolphin filly (Paris Lilly). And it looks like she was going very well. Brad told me that she kept coming all the time and she was a grinder. I kept riding her, and she was resilient.

(Was there a point that you thought you might not get there?) “Honestly, turning for home it looked like the leader was going very well. If she could open up on me, I don’t’ think I was going to make it. But as we turned for home and she swapped leads she kept grinding and it felt like the filly in front didn’t open up on me. Yeah, going to the eighth pole I thought I had a chance.”

(Did the weather change your strategy at all?) “No, I was I was going to ride her the same way. The only thing is, I knew she won on sloppy, so I didn’t mind it.”

Trainer Brendan Walsh (Paris Lily, 2nd) – “It’s a little unfortunate she got collared. But [she] ran great. No complaints. We set out to do what we did, and it [almost] worked. We can’t complain. We went to the lead. They were right behind us. He (Rosario) did what he had to do. He said she ran great. She just got a little leg-weary the last 50 yards. Beaten a length. Hats off to them.”

Jockey Joel Rosario (Paris Lily, 2nd) – “She ran great on a nice, easy lead. The trainer told me to go forward with her so I did and got her in front. She was nice and relaxed down the backside. The first quarter was quick so I gave her a breather down the backside. She kicked for home but the outside horse was too much at the end.”

Trainer Greg Compton (Kinzie Queen, 3rd) — “She ran well. Very happy. I mean, she’s Grade 2-placed now, adds some residual value to her. We claimed her (for maiden $50,000 at Churchill Downs last fall). She’s been more than we expected. She’s a nice, classy filly and she proved she can run at this level.”

Jockey Junior Alvarado (Kinzie Queen, 3rd) – “She had a good trip. We were sitting a bit behind. We were sitting kind of in the back there and then when we turned for home, I went a bit on the outside hoping to get a chance to get there on time but she put in a great race. They ran away from me a bit in the first part of the race, and we were back there, but she came out with a nice run. It was nothing to be ashamed of. Sshe gave great effort. The first part she was spinning her wheels a little bit then she got comfortable and made a nice move”

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