Weekend Winners Club

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Monday May 23
Pimlico, Baltimore MD
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To the casual observer, 1 race occurred at Pimlico last weekend. To the rest of us horse people, there were many races, and lot of graded stakes and other high stakes racing going on at Pimlico.
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Let’s start with Friday’s racing. The Pimlico Special G3 kicked off graded stakes racing for the weekend on Friday. Formerly a G1 race for many years, it got its name as a match race between War Admiral and Seabiscuit in 1938, and we know who won that race.
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After that, it featured many of the top horses and Kentucky Derby champions of its time, including horses such as Whirlaway, Assault, Citation, Tom Fool, Bet Twice, Strike the Gold, Devil His Due, Cigar, Skip Away, Real Quiet, Mineshaft, and BCC champion Invasor.
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Unfortunatley, due to poor track management and attendance the past decade, it was canceled for 4 years. In 2012 it was reinstated as a G3 race and has attracted some solid fields.
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This year, the even money favorite was Noble Bird, an oscillator who has run hot and colt his past 5 races, but this time he was hot again, setting the pace and running away by 11 lengths, apparently liking the fast Pimlico surface.
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In the Dupont Distaff G3, fillies and mares competed at 9f on dirt. Ahh Chocolate enjoyed rating just behind the soft pace and took off for a 7-2 victory.
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Theogony rallied from last for 2nd, and Joint Return was a solid 3rd coming form 8th place midway. Front runner Super Majesty held on for 4th.
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The featured race was the Black Eyed Susan G2 for fillies 3yo going 9f on the dirt. There were 2 virtual co-favorites, Land Over Sea, and Go Maggie Go, who had finished 2nd and 4th in the Kentucky Oaks G1.
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Go Maggie Go proved that she was still improving in just her 4th lifetime race, dueling for the lead with Kinsley Kisses, who held for 3rd, before opening up in the stretch for the victory.
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Her stablemate Ma Can Do It, who had virtually no credentials and was the 2nd longest shot in the field of 12, rated nicely in 4th and got up for 2nd at 50-1 for Dale Romans.
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Land Over Sea never did get going, and wound up in 6th after being steadied and checked up with a bad trip.
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Full Results chart for Pimlico May 21 including Black Eyed Susan

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Stakes racing continued on Saturday with the Preakness and some great undercard races. The most important race was the Sir Barton Stakes, listed at $100k for 3yo horses going 8.5f on the dirt. As usual, the favorite won.
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But the way in which he won, American Freedom was spectacular in his 3rd lifetime race. He repelled challenges by 5 rivals including the early speed duel, to win by a length, denying Vonuntario’s final rail attempt to take him over.
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It was an impressive race by most means except for the numbers. The fractions were soft and he ended up a few hundredths short of Exaggerator’s Preakness Mile, and a couple seconds behind the 8.5f time of the Preakness champ. But that may or may not convince Baffert to enter him in the Belmont stakes.
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We’ve covered the Preakness in much detail previously on this site, so no need to add even more coverage here. The Dixie G2 Stkaes is a very important race contesteed over 8.5 furlongs on the turf by 3 and up.
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Takeover Target plodded in last place for most of the race, then made an incredible closing move to win it over favored Grand Arch (3rd) and Ring Weekend (2nd.) Despite the soft pace, the champion solidified himself as a turf miler to be reckoned with.
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In the Gallorette G3 Handicap, Mizz Money took control late in the stretch after rating in 2nd for most of the time in a very slow paced 8.5f race, and holding on to win it. The Grid basically told you this would happen.
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An inexplicable and unforeseen late run by Vielsalm placed her in 2nd at 76-1, followed by Heath who came from last to finish 3rd at 9-2. 50-1 Flying Tipat held on for 4th, producing some great payouts with the favorite Tiger Ride off the Board.
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The $2 Exacta paid $770, Trifecta $6918, and Superfecta $70k just for the $1 bet. The Super Hi5 was not hit.
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Results:
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Full Results Chart for Pimlico Preakness Day Here
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