Miss Marissa Upsets Black-Eyed Susan

BALTIMORE, MD – Alfonso Cammarota’s Miss Marissa pulled ahead in mid-stretch and withstood Bonny South‘s late rally to spring the 10/1 upset in Saturday’s $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (G2) at Pimlico.

Miss Marissa and jockey Daniel Centeno broke from post 9 and sat a close stalking trip just to the outside of Mizzen Beau heading into the clubhouse turn.

The two sophomore fillies dueled heads apart through opening fractions of :23.10, :46.61, and 1:10.74, while the 4/5 heavy favorite Bonny South lingered at the rear of the 10-horse field.

Miss Marissa inched ahead to take a slim lead midway through the far turn and began to separate at the top of the stretch.

After running five-wide by the time she exited the far turn, Bonny South still had enough left to come charging hard down the center of the course, but Miss Marissa’s advantage proved too much to overcome.

The James Ryerson crossed a neck clear while completing the 1 1/8-mile fast dirt route in 1:48.08.

Hopeful Growth took third over a fading Mizzen Beau, while Dream Marie was fifth ahead of Project Whiskey.

Sharp Starr, Truth Hurts, Perfect Alibi, and So Darn Hot completed the order of finish.

Landing Zone scratched out of the race restricted to 3-year-old fillies.

Miss Marissa’s win was her third straight and first at the stakes level, having defeated allowance/optional claiming rivals at Monmouth Park and Saratoga in her previous 2 starts. The He’s Had Enough filly improved her record to 12-4-2-1 with $323,690 earned.

Miss Marissa returned $22.20 to win, $7.80 to place, and $4.80 to show. Bonny South brought back $2.80 to place and $2.20 to show, while Hopeful Growth paid $3.20 to show.