BALTIMORE (AP) — John Velazquez has now won the Black-Eyed Susan a record five times.
It took him over a decade to secure victory No. 5, but when it happened, Gun Song made it look pretty easy down the stretch.
Velazquez rode Gun Song to a 3 1/4-length win Friday at Pimlico Race Course, taking the Black-Eyed Susan for the first time since 2012 with In Lingerie. He also won in 2005, 2003 and 1998.
Longshot Jeanne Marie showed early speed and was still challenging for the lead around the second turn, but after she finally weakened, nobody else provided much of a challenge for Gun Song toward the end of the 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-old fillies, which takes place the day before the Preakness Stakes.
“She’s a horse that kind of waits, and I wanted to make sure to keep her mind running, and she actually opened up,” Velazquez said. “I didn’t know she was going to open up that much, but she did it nicely. I thought it was going to be a much faster pace, but it didn’t show up.”