Black-Eyed Susan Stakes 2015: Post Positions, Field and Race Preview

Much like the Kentucky Oaks does with the Kentucky Derby, the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes tends to play second fiddle to the Preakness Stakes.

Run on the third Friday of May (just two weeks after the Oaks), the Black-Eyed Susan is one of the biggest highlights of both Preakness weekend and the Pimlico meet as a whole.

This year, nine fillies will descend upon the 1 1/8-mile dirt track at Pimlico, and the field looks to be a rather deep one. With quality runners like Luminance, Danessa Deluxe and Ahh Chocolate, the top end of the race chart looks extremely promising. However, there are several fillies—I'll discuss one in particular later on—who could sneak in for a piece of the action.

All of this is to say that the Black-Eyed Susan is a wide-open race this year, and it should provide us with an extremely exciting appetizer for the Preakness.

With introductions out of the way, here's a look at everything you need to know about this year's Black-Eyed Susan Stakes.

Post Positions and Race Field

Post Position	Horse	Trainer	Jockey
1	Danessa Delux	Jorge Navarro	John Velazquez
2	Pure	James M. Cassidy	Victor Espinoza
3	Ahh Chocolate	Neil Howard	Brian Joseph Hernandez Jr.
4	Gypsy Judy	Robin L. Graham	Horacio Karamanos
5	Include Betty	Thomas F. Proctor	Dryden Van Dyke
6	Sweetgrass	Ian Wilkes	Julien Leparoux
7	Devine Aida	Roman Morales	Jesus Rios
8	Luminance	Bob Baffert	Martin Garcia
9	Keen Pauline	Dale Romans	Javier Castellano

Race Preview

Luminance jumps out as the horse to beat in this year's running of the Black-Eyed Susan. The three-year-old daughter of Tale of the Cat has an outstanding pedigree—sire line includes Storm Cat and Mr. Prospector while dam line includes Unbridled's Song, Unbridled and Danzig—and her connections are off the charts.

Owned by Kaleem Shah—also the owner of Derby contender Dortmund—this filly boasts the ever-potent trainer-jockey combo of Bob Baffert and Martin Garcia.

Beyond the obvious draws to her bloodlines and connections, though, Luminance is trending well and is also exiting a key race that saw her finish second to eventual Kentucky Oaks favorite Stellar Wind.

In that race—the Santa Anita Oaks, shown below—Luminance finished a distant second behind Stellar Wind, but she ran a solid race and was clearly the second-best horse in the field. Look for her to jump out toward the front, sit just off the pace and be a factor in the final outcome.

Two other fillies who should be considered major factors from this group are Danessa Deluxe and Keen Pauline.

Danessa Deluxe, a granddaughter of former Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes winner Birdstone, has looked strong in prior showings.

The Jorge Navarro-trained filly logged a third-place finish in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks and a fourth-place finish in the Grade 3 Delta Princess Stakes. Prior to those two races, though, Danessa Deluxe was a winner in three straight starts, two of which were of the one-mile variety.

Stretching her out to 1 1/8 miles could prove a bit of a test, though, as she failed to last over 1 1/16 miles in her last effort, the Gulfstream Park Oaks (shown below).

All told, Danessa Deluxe ran well against stiff competition, and she showed a little bit of fight by digging in and holding the difference between herself and second-place finisher Eskenformoney to just one length. Fortunately, this time out, the Summer Bird filly will not run up against Eskenformoney (a Kentucky Oaks contender) or the first-place finishing Birdatthewire (another Oaks contender).

If she gets a good trip, is able to sit somewhere between two and four lengths off the pace and is blessed with a clear path coming into the top of the stretch, Danessa Deluxe could very well win this race. Oh, and pulling Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez doesn't hurt, either!

Finally, I'll leave you with a sleeper: Keen Pauline.

This Pulpit filly boasts bloodlines for days, including the incredible sire line of Pulpit-A.P. Indy-Seattle Slew as well as a dam line that includes Mr. Prospector. She's taking a bit of a step up in class and has never won in any of her five career starts, but Keen Pauline is a definite contender here, and you should get her for a nice price.

Looking deeper into those past performances, throw out that first 1 1/16-mile turf contest at Saratoga last August, and you have a filly who has finished no worse than fourth in four straight. Beyond that, she's proved to be a capable opponent against fillies like Eskenformoney and Oceanwave.

She's coming off a month-long layoff, and it's safe to bet that trainer Dale Romans will have her firing on all cylinders when 2014 Black-Eyed Susan-winning rider Javier Castellano saddles up for a run at the lion's share of that $250,000 purse.

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