Black-Eyed Susan Stakes 2015: Winner, Payouts and Order of Finish

All eyes are on Pimlico race track this weekend for the 2015 Preakness Stakes, but before that race takes center stage Saturday, the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes gave the fillies a chance to show off their skills. Keen Pauline basically went wire-to-wire for the victory in a brilliant run for Javier Castellano. 

It was a huge upset, as Luminance came into the race as the favorite with 9-5 odds, per Vegas Insider. She got off to a slow start and had room to make up down the stretch. It also marks the first career win for Keen Pauline in six career starts. 

As Keen Pauline made the final turn, Luminance seemed to find an opening on the inside that had been blocked most of the race. Once jockey Martin Garcia got Luminance to make a move, the horse had nothing left and wound up falling back to fifth place. 

Here's the full order of finish from the 2015 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes. 

Position	Horse	Lengths Back
Win	Keen Pauline	-
Place	Include Betty	2 3/4
Show	Ahh Chocolate	3 1/4
4th	Danessa Deluxe	3 1/2
5th	Luminance	7 1/2
6th	Pure	7 3/4
7th	Sweetgrass	11
8th	Gypsy Judy	11 1/2
9th	Devine Aida	14 1/4

Horse	Win	Place	Show
Keen Pauline	$32.80	$10.80	$5.80
Include Betty	-	$5.40	$3.40
Ahh Chocolate	-	-	$4.40

Leading up to the race, Luminance trainer Bob Baffert made an interesting comment in which he said the goal for Luminance racing here was basically to prepare for the Acorn Stakes during the weekend of the Belmont Stakes in three weeks, according to Blood-Horse.

"After surveying everything there—she's a really good filly—I just wanted to prep her for the Acorn (gr. I, June 6 at Belmont Park) down the road," Baffert said of the filly. "You want to place them where they can be competitive and not be too hard on them."

Baffert may have kept the horse off the track too long, as this was her first run since April 4, and stamina certainly was a factor down the stretch. 

Keen Pauline wasn't getting a lot of love from analysts or bettors prior to the race. Andrew Champagne of Horse Racing TV admitted he had no reason to predict the filly would win at Pimlico:

One person who did have Keen Pauline marked for victory before the race was former Major League Baseball player and current TVG.com horse racing analyst Paul Lo Duca:

It was a terrific run by Keen Pauline and Castellano. The horse started all the way on the outside from the ninth post, got a great break out of the gate and moved quickly to the inside. That's when Castellano's ability took over, controlling the pace and keeping everyone on the inside behind his horse.

That led to the final stretch and victory march that looked like this, per Maryland Racing on Instagram:

Castellano has been having an incredible 2015 so far, though that's not a surprise given he has had the highest national earnings in each of the past two years. Per Lane Gold of ESPN, the 37-year-old is on his way to doing it again:

For Luminance, even though this loss doesn't help her career resume, Byron King of Daily Racing Form did note how Baffert can use the lessons from this race to help set up his horses (American Pharoah, Dortmund) at the Preakness Stakes:

Whether that strategy pays off for Baffert or not remains to be seen. Keen Pauline can bask in the glow of her first career victory. It also shows how far the horse has come after finishing 10th last August and fourth in her previous race in April. This was her big moment in the spotlight and one where she managed to take control of it. 

Castellano will look to ride this wave of momentum into Saturday's Preakness Stakes as he mounts Divining Rod starting in the seventh gate. There's not a better jockey for the long shot to have in his corner if he hopes to pull off an upset, as the veteran rider just proved with Keen Pauline.