Margie’s Intention Popular Winner of $125,000 Allaire du Pont

First Win for 4YO Filly Since Last Year’s Black-Eyed Susan (G2)

LAUREL, MD – Margie’s Intention, winless since her popular victory in last spring’s Black-Eyed Susan (G2) at Pimlico Race Course, reeled in pacesetting Low Country Magic at the eighth pole and surged past to capture Saturday’s $125,000 Allaire du Pont Distaff presented by Kaiser Permanente at Laurel Park.

The 33rd running of the 1 1/8-mile Allaire du Pont for fillies and mares 3 and up was the third of six stakes, three graded, worth $1.05 million in purses on a spectacular 14-race Black-Eyed Susan (G2) Day program headlined by the 102nd edition of the nine-furlong fixture for 3-year-old fillies.

Ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr. for owners Delta Squad Racing, Michael Dubb and Madaket Stables and trainer Brad Cox, Margie’s Intention ($3.20) completed the distance in 1:52.26 over a fast main track.

Ortiz won last year’s du Pont with Candied for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. Sol Kumin’s Madaket Stables won Friday’s $125,000 Hilltop with Coach Mazzula.

Low Country Magic broke alertly from her rail post and raced through splits of 24.70 seconds, 49.07 and 1:13.60 with 35-1 longshot Late Nite Call rating two wide in second and Queen Azteca in the clear three wide in third. Margie’s Intention settled along the inside in fourth with multiple stakes winner Complexity Jane trailing the field.

Leaving the far turn it was still Low Country Magic leading the way, but Ortiz had roused Margie’s Intention on the far outside and set the 4-year-old daughter of Honor A.P. down for a drive once straightened for home. They moved up on even terms with an eighth of a mile to run and edged clear to win by 2 ¾ lengths.

Low Country Magic, Late Nite Call, Queen Azteca and Complexity Jane completed a strung-out order of finish. Too Many Kisses, Waveless and Ourdaydreaminggirl were scratched.

Making just her second start of the year and first since March 22, Margie’s Intention improved her record to 4-4-2 from 11 career starts. She had gone winless in four races – running second in the Delaware Oaks (G3) and third in the Alabama (G1) and Beldame (G2) – following her three-quarter-length Black-Eyed Susan triumph.

The du Pont honors the late avid sportswoman and horsewoman best known as the owner of Hall of Famer Kelso, the unprecedented and unsurpassed winner of five consecutive Horse of the Year championships from 1960-64.

$125,000 Allaire du Pont Quotes

Winning trainer Brad Cox (Margie’s Intention) by phone: “We thought this would be a good race, second off the layoff. We’re hoping we can get her back to the graded-stakes level to run. This was just a stepping stone toward that if it went the way we hoped.

“The last sixteenth of a mile it felt like she was clear. I think with the pace being as slow as it was, going up the backside I wasn’t sure how it would play out. We don’t run there a whole lot and am not real familiar with the surface. But she showed she liked the mile and an eighth. I thought the long stretch would be her friend, and it was. I was proud of her and the effort.”

“When we got her last year she ran big in the Black-Eyed Susan at Pimlico. We took some swings in other graded stakes the rest of the year and they were very respectable efforts. She’s very honest, always bringing her ‘A’ game. We’re hoping we can break through this year with another graded stakes at some point.”

(Margie’s Intention was sold for $1.3 million at auction last fall.) “A new ownership group bought her. They wanted to give her another year racing, and it worked out.”

Winning jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. (Margie’s Intention): “My filly doesn’t really have too much speed, so I was riding my racing, letting her be her, letting her be comfortable. I was close enough to the horse I have to beat. I even took a little more time with her, let her find her stride, take a little hold of her. I didn’t have to be pushing to get position or to be on in close contact with the horses in front of me. That was great. Then at the three-eighths pole it was time to let her do her thing, and she did it easy.

“She gave me a good feeling every step of the way. Honestly, I was like buying time. I felt I had the horse to go on, but I said, ‘It’s too early.’ Then, when I let her do her thing, right away she jumped on the bridle and did it easy and started improving her position pretty easy.”