Preakness 2011: Royal Delta Wins Black-Eyed Susan

Added on May 20, 2011 by Jack Thurman in

Horse Racing

The small field in Friday’s Black-Eyed Susan race for 3 year old fillies at Pimlico was in marked contrast to the 14 entrants that will compete for the Preakness Stakes crown, but the connections of pre-race favorite Royal Delta were still happy with her solid win.

Royal Delta got a flawless ride from jockey Jose Lezcano and took advantage of a brisk early pace for a textbook victory by 2 1/2 lengths. Hot Summer set the pace early while Lezcano moved Royal Delta into a stalking position several lengths back. When Hot Summer tired Royal Delta’s victory was a foregone conclusion as she easily overtook the exhausted frontrunner. Afterwards, Lezcano said the race couldn’t have set up better than it did:

“Today we got pace. With the pace up front, when I asked her, she gave me the run I needed to go.”

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott had considered entering Royal Delta in the Kentucky Oaks, but eventually opted to pass and point the daughter of Empire Maker to the traditional Friday warm up to the Preakness Stakes. He admitted that Royal Delta ended up being a better filly than he’d expected early on and an impressive allowance victory at Keeneland on April 15 opened his eyes:

“We thought she was a nice filly early on, but soon realized she was a little better than we thought.”

Buster’s Ready finished second, pace setter Hot Summer had to settle for third and Love Theway Youare took fourth. 9-5 second choice Wyomia finished last in the five horse field. Coax Liberty was a late scratch.

The Black-Eyed Susan win was only the fourth career start for Royal Delta who had been erratic early on. She won her maiden race by 12 lengths at Belmont only to get trounced at Tampa Bay Downs the next time out. With a couple of impressive wins since then Mott thinks she’s turned a corner: