What a day for Interstatedaydream
Filly earns second victory in three starts this season
Interstatedaydream, trained by Brad Cox and ridden by Florent Geroux, won the 98th running of the Black-Eyed Susan at Pimlico Race Course on Friday.
Insterstatedaydream’s victory in the $250,000 Grade II 1 ⅛-mile event for 3-yearold fillies was her second in three starts this year. Meanwhile, Geroux picked up his 38th first-place finish in 2022.
The victory came after Geroux placed first in the Allaire DuPont Distaff Stakes (G3) with Super Quick earlier in the day.
Interstatedaydream, running from post No. 9, went off as a 6-1 shot. Beguine jumped out in front at the start before Interstatedaydream crept up, opened a clear lead in the mid stretch and never looked back in a 1 ¼-length triumph.
Her winning time of 1:48.73 over a fast track on an unseasonably warm day came close to beating the Black-Eyed Susan record of 1:47.83 set by Silverbulletday in 1999.
“I’m just very proud of her,” said Cox, an award-winning trainer who produced two Triple Crown champions in 2021 in Kentucky Derby winner Mandaloun and Belmont Stakes winner Essential Quality. “She stepped up and ran a huge race.”
Cox thought Interstatedaydream wasn’t
getting a lot of respect leading up to the race, saying “I was very shocked to see she was the price she was going into the gate.”
Adare Manor, a betting favorite at 5-2, placed second from post No. 11, followed by Radio Days in third and Divine Huntress in fourth.
Luna Belle, Maryland’s 2-year-old champion filly of 2021 based at Laurel Park, finished 11th, suffered her first loss of the year after five consecutive stakes wins.
“I don’t have any excuse other than she got outrun,” trainer Hamilton Smith said. “It was very disappointing. I was hoping she would have had a good showing, and to finish as far back as she did wasn’t a good showing. She is better than what she ran today, I know that.”
Florent said there was no specific game plan entering the race, but he expected Adare Manor to be “a little bit forwardly placed.”
“But when [Adare Manor jockey] Johnny [Velazquez] was content to sit right off me, I just took advantage of it,” he said. “I was not going to pull too hard on my filly just to let him pass. I thought my filly was great where she was.”
The win gives Cox his 89th victory this year and first in the Black-Eyed Susan. Insterstatedaydream’s victory comes after she finished in third at the Central Bank Ashland Stakes (G1) at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky, on Feb. 5.
Insterstatedaydream paid $14.20, $6.40 and $5, Adare Manor paid $4.40 and $3.20 and Radio Days paid $7.60.
“It was a big effort and I thought Florent did a good job of getting a good early position,” Cox said. “Her last two works have been phenomenal, and she showed up and ran a big race.”
The Black-Eyed Susan was the penultimate event of Friday’s 14-race program at Pimlico featuring six stakes, four graded, worth $1.05 million in purses.