Point of Honor near record time

But Ulele kept Wellman on edge, even as Point of Honor won by a half-length.

“Down the lane, I thought she was going to put ’em away with more ease, but Brad Cox’s filly put up a heck of a fight,” he said. “A lot of credit goes to her. She really made our filly run to the wire, so it was a hell of a horse race. We’re just fortunate to come out on top.”

It ended up as Point of Honor’s third win in four starts, though she was coming off a disappointing fourth-place finish at the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks in March, with Castellano as her jockey, and she missed the first jewel of the tradition filly Triple Crown, the Kentucky Oaks, by a handful of scratches.

Weaver, though, could leave Pimlico on Friday viewing that as somewhat of a positive.

“Weneeded two scratches, but despite all our efforts to get somebody to scratch, it didn’t happen,” Weaver said with a laugh. “Nobody scratched. It might have been a blessing in disguise. Serengeti Empress won impressively that day and she was loose on the lead.

“Different type of race today. She’s a nice filly, though, and she was training very well before the Oaks and we were dying to run. So maybe she would have won that race too.

“But the Black-Eyed Susan is a very prestigious race, and you know it’s a great next step for this filly and hopefully we’ve got some more big stuff in the summer for her.”

Weavers opined that Point of Honor’s next race will likely come in August’s Alabama Stakes in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Fittingly, Weaver recalled his first “big race” victory coming at that course with Castellano up in 2005.

The pair was victorious again Friday, with Castellano claiming his third BlackEyed Susan, all since 2014. Although Point of Honor spent most of the race outside, he remained unconcerned.

“I lost a little ground but got a freer trip,” Castellano said. “I didn’t have to be bounced with the horses. It worked out perfect.

“[It was a] good perfect trip, outside in the clear, and she went by all the horses. That’s what I was looking for today, and we had the best result.”

Wellman felt the same.

“She’s a filly that likes to be in a high cruising speed, be in rhythm, and we were OK with her being drawn outside today,” he said. “She’s a big filly with a long stride. We just didn’t want to disrupt her rhythm.”

In that way, the filly matched her jockey.