Though it will be the biggest field for the $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan (G2) in nearly three decades, Charles Matses' homebred Beguine doesn't have to worry about getting the chance to run.
That wasn't the case two weeks ago, when the daughter of Gun Runner was ranked 15th in points for the Kentucky Oaks (G1) and, as the lone also-eligible, didn't draw into the main body of the field, which is restricted to 14 horses.
“When it's all said and done, maybe it was a blessing we didn't get in the Oaks,” trainer Dan Peitz said Thursday morning outside Barn D at Pimlico, where Beguine is bedded down for Friday's Black-Eyed Susan, the highlight of a 14-race program featuring six stakes, four graded, worth $1.05 million in purses. “We had a little more time, and this is definitely a softer spot.”
Peitz watched as Secret Oath powered to a two-length win in the Oaks over favored Nest, earning her another chance at facing males in Saturday's 147th Preakness Stakes (G1), Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown. The next day, he saw Rich Strike draw into the Kentucky Derby (G1) following the defection of Ethereal Road and then spring an 80-1 upset.
“When that horse drew in off the also-eligible to win the Derby, everybody was firing me up. They said, 'Hey, they let him in and they wouldn't let you in.' I would have only paid 80 bucks, not 160,” Peitz joked. “I've just maintained that same feeling that if it was meant to be, we would have got in. The Black-Eyed Susan was always our backup plan, and it's a great race.”
Beguine has settled in well since shipping in Tuesday from Kentucky to Baltimore, where the forecast calls for high temperatures in the 90s both Friday and Saturday after some cooler temperatures to start the week.
“She seems awfully happy. She is knocking her feed tub out,” Peitz said. “It's just whether we are good enough or not. I think we are going to run well; what that means, I'm not sure. She shipped right in here, galloped and was nice and relaxed. I think she is going to run big. The only thing that bothers me is how hot it's going to be. Everything else says she's sitting on a good race.”
Beguine went unraced at 2 and needed three tries to break her maiden, graduating when stretched out from six furlongs to 1 1/16 miles in a March 5 maiden special weight at Oaklawn Park. She came back and ran a gutsy second, beaten a neck, in the April 9 Fantasy (G3) at Oaklawn, her stakes debut.
Out of the Eltish mare Shananies Song, Beguine will have the services of jockey Jose Ortiz from Post 5 of 13, the biggest field since 1994 when there were also 13 horses. Matses, 95, is a longtime owner and breeder who in 1954 founded Charles Construction Co., a full-service general contracting firm located in North Andover, Mass. specializing in commercial and healthcare construction.
Matses' best horse was Miss Indy Anna, an Ontario-bred that New England Hall of Famer Ned Allard trained to seven wins from 10 starts including the Columbia (G3) at Pimlico and Churchill Downs Budweiser Breeders' Cup Handicap (G3) in 1993. That same year she also won the Dearly Precious at Monmouth Park and Lewis Morris at the Meadowlands, and ran second in the Test (G1) and Meadowlands Budweiser Breeders' Cup Handicap (G3).
“He's like, 'What are you telling everybody I'm 95 for?' Um, because you are? That's the whole story to me, that at 90 or 91 you say, 'I think I'm going to send my good mare to Gun Runner,'” Peitz said. “I told him most people at your age are getting rid of their mares. They're not even breeding anymore and you're still going to a top stallion trying to get a good horse and, lo and behold, you have one.
“He's been doing this on his own for a long time,” he added. “I told him, 'Hell, Charlie, you're 95 and you've still got mares that you're breeding. That's a pretty good story.”
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