Margie’s Intention Quickly Pays Off With Black-Eyed Susan Victory
- Turf Diario
- 4 hours ago
- 2 min read
Recently Acquired by WinStar Farm and Baron Stable, Margie’s Intention Takes Pimlico Feature
PIMLICO, Baltimore (Special for Turf Diario).- Margie’s Intention made a winning debut for her new ownership group of WinStar Farm and Baronne Farms Friday, splashing home to take the GII George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan S. on a rain-soaked afternoon at Pimlico. The victory marked her first graded stakes triumph and came just a day before the 150th running of the GI Preakness S.
Contested over a sealed and sloppy track following a severe thunderstorm that caused over an hour delay and the cancellation of the day’s final race, the gray daughter of Honor A. P. overcame the off going and a game pacesetter in Paris Lily (City of Light) to win by three-quarters of a length going 1 1/8 miles.
It was the third win on the card for jockey Flavien Prat, who earlier scored with Play With Fire (Oscar Performance) in the Hilltop S. and with Verifire (Authentic) in the opener. All three were saddled by Brad Cox, who picked up his second win in the Black-Eyed Susan, having previously captured the race in 2022 with Interstatedaydream (Classic Empire).
Favored at 5-2 ($7.00 to win), Margie’s Intention settled in fourth early, saving ground as Paris Lily posted opening splits of :22.73 and :46.48. Prat tipped her out entering the far turn and began to mount a sustained rally.
Paris Lily dug in gamely, but Margie’s Intention collared her in upper stretch and edged clear late to stop the clock in 1:52.05. Kinzie Queen (McKinzie) was third, 1 1/4 lengths back, while Reply (Curlin) checked in fourth, another 4 1/4 lengths behind.
“We’ve liked her quite a bit,” said Cox. “Elliott [Walden], and his team decided to get involved, and it paid off today. This was a big win—a Grade II—and we thought the mile and an eighth would suit her well. And she needed every bit of it. Turning for home, I thought she was moving well, but Paris Lily had carved out a solid pace and wasn’t going to be easy to run down. She really showed up. We haven’t had her that long, but she showed this winter that she could handle a wet track, and I think she moved forward today. She was being asked already at the top of the lane, but she kept on. We’ll take her back to Kentucky on Sunday and see how she comes out of it.”
Previously campaigned exclusively against Louisiana-bred fillies at Fair Grounds, Margie’s Intention broke her maiden in her second start and doubled up in her third before running second in back-to-back stakes. Following her runner-up effort on Mar. 22, WinStar acquired a majority interest and transferred her from Brendan Walsh to the Cox barn.
