BALTIMORE, Md. – LC Racing, Cash is King and Gary Barber’s stakes winner Morning Matcha could be headed to the $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan (G2) May 20 at historic Pimlico Race Course following a sharp breeze Friday morning.
“She worked really well this morning, and if all goes well for the next week, we may take a stab in there,” trainer Robert E. ‘Butch’ Reid Jr. said. “We couldn’t have asked for it to have gone any better.”
Morning Matcha worked four furlongs in 47.56 seconds at Parx, the fastest of 14 horses at the distance. It was her first work since finishing sixth in the April 9 Gazelle (G3) at Aqueduct, which marked the first off-the-board finish in her 10-race career.
“She doesn’t normally breeze that fast, but the track had a little moisture in it,” Reid said. “If we do come [to Pimlico], I’ll be looking for a little moisture in the track. She seems to like that a lot – a good, firm track with a little wet.”
Bred in Pennsylvania, Morning Matcha owns three wins, four seconds and two thirds racing in New York, New Jersery and Pennsylvania. Her most recent victory came by 6 ¾ lengths in the one-mile, 70-yard Main Line March 8 at Parx.
The 98th Black-Eyed Susan for 3-year-old fillies would be the second straight graded-stakes start for Morning Matcha and third time going 1 1/8 miles, the distance she covered when second in the Jan. 23 Busanda at Aqueduct to open her season.
“She came out of her last race good, and we gave her a little bit of extra time on this one,” Reid said. “She needs a little pace in front of her which she hasn’t gotten, but a lot of times in the Black-Eyed Susan with a good-sized field there can be a little pace. She’ll benefit from that.”
Among the horses pointing to the Black-Eyed Susan are Adare Manor, Beguine, Distinctlypossible, Divine Huntress, Favor, Interstatedaydream, Luna Belle, Midnight Stroll, Missy Greer and Radio Days.
Maryland Jockey Club Press Release
Photo Heavy favorite Morning Matcha #3 with Frankie Pennington aboard won the $100,000 Main Line with ease at Parx (by Bill Denver/EQUI-PHOTO)
