Stopchargingmaria gives Pletcher fourth straight Black Eyed Susan Win

Stopchargingmaria gives Todd Pletcher his fourth straight win at the 2014 Black Eyed Susan Stakes: This past Friday May 16th, 2014 was the 90th annual running of the Black Eyed Susan Stakes. The Black Eyed Susan Stakes was held at the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore and has been a tradition dating back to 1919. Despite all of the rain and the poor conditions of the race track, the horses all still ran a good race. Stopchargingmaria took home the first place win and race horse Vero Amore came in second place with Fortune Pearl coming in third place to round out the top positions at the grade 2 stakes.

There were 11 total fillies running in the race fighting for the $500,000 purse. Stopchargingmaria was ridden by famed jockey Javier Castellano and is trained by Todd Pletcher. This was the fourth Black Eyed Susan Stakes win for trainer Pletcher. Pletcher had another horse in the race as well, Sloane Square, who came in ninth place.

Stopchargingmaria entered into the race as the 7-2 favorite since Untapable was unable to race. Stopchargingmaria took the lead and charged to first place and was able to keep the lead, and come out a nose ahead of second place Vero Amore. At first, it seemed as though Vero Amore would take first place while duking it out with Image of Anna, but Stopchargingmaria took over and road past the leaders. Image of Anna was the early pace setter for the opening half mile. Stopchargingmaria was able to wear down his rivals, though she as four spots of the rail, she came towards the lead on the far turn.

Coming into the race, trainer Todd Pletcher said of Stopchargingmaria, “I think like a lot of horses, her running style didn’t suit the way Gulfstream was playing at that time of the season. We shipped her to Oaklawn and she ran a little better, although I didn’t think she ran to her full capabilities. Now she seems to have moved forward and has been training very enthusiastically, indicating to us that she’s back in form. Hopefully, that turns out to be the case.”

It did turn out to be the case, since Stopchargingmaria rode hard and took the 2014 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes win.

Black Eyed Susan Stakes 2014 Results and Payouts
4 Stopchargingmaria and Javier Castellano $9.60 to Win, $5.60 to Place, $4.00 to Show
10 Vero Amore and Frankie Pennington $12.80 to Place, $9.40 to Show
9 Fortune Pearl and Trevor McCarthy $5.80 to Show
Also ran: 1 – Joint Return , 2 – America , 6 – Arethusa , 7 – La Mejor Fiesta , 3 – Shanon Nicole , 8 – Sloane Square , 5 – Euphrosyne , 11 – Image of Anna

2014 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes Replay: