Longshot wins Black-Eye Susan

Castellano, Keen Pauline go

wire-to-wire to clinch upset

Associated Press

BALTIMORE

Javier Castellano thought he knew exactly how the Black-Eyed Susan was going to pan out.

He couldn’t have been happier about being so wrong.

Castellano broke to the lead from the No. 9 post with Keen Pauline and charged to a wire-to-wire upset Friday, her second winning effort in six career races.

A 15-1 long shot, Kentucky-bred Keen Pauline covered the 1 1/8-mile course in 1:50.46 at Pimlico Race Course to beat Include Betty by 2 3/4 lengths.

Ahh Chocolate finished third, a half-length ahead of Danessa Deluxe in the $250,000, Grade 2 race for 3-year-old fillies.

“You have to take advantage when anything happens in a race,” Castellano said. “I didn’t expect to be on the lead. I saw a lot of speed in the race. My horse broke so well out of the gate, I dictated the pace and I enjoyed the ride.”

Keen Pauline paid $32.80, $10.80 and $5.80. Her previous finishes this year were third and fourth. The $150,000 purse for winner compared quite favorably to her previous career earnings — a mere $30,932.

Asked to assess Castellano’s ride, Tammy Fox, assistant to trainer Dale Romans, said, “You have the best of the best on the horse. He knew how fast he was going. That helped a lot.”

Castallano figured he would be chasing the favorite, Luminance, ridden by Martin Garcia.

“I thought that Martin Garcia had the speed and was going to dictate the pace,” Castellano said. “He broke OK, but didn’t send his horse to lead.”

Luminance, trained by Bob Baffert, entered as a 6-5 favorite but faded before finishing fifth.

“We never got to the front. That’s all,” Garia said.

Baffert was looking for a rare sweep at Pimlico involving 3-year-old horses. He has two entrants in Saturday’s Preakness, including favorite American Pharoah.

The Hall of Fame trainer knew he was in trouble in this race soon after it started.

“I told (Garcia), ‘You just took her best weapon away from her.’ She needed the lead,” Baffert said. “She couldn’t get it, so after that she wasn’t effective at all.”

Include Betty was the only stakes winner in the race and the only horse with as many as eight career starts. She paid $5.40 and $3.40 after rallying from last place.