Acting Happy takes Black-Eyed Susan in stakes bow

Jay Em Ess Stable's homebred ACTING HAPPY (Empire Maker) tracked the

pacesetter in second throughout Friday's $175,000

Black-Eyed Susan S. (G2) at Pimlico, dueled with Tidal Pool (Yankee

Gentleman) in the stretch run and easily put that rival away while pulling off

for the 1 1/2-length victory. Sent off the 10-1 sixth pick in the nine-filly

field, Acting Happy paid $22.20, $10.80 and $5.80 for taking her stakes bow

under jockey Jose Lezcano.

Khancord Kid (Lemon Drop Kid) took command of the race when the gates opened,

with Acting Happy settled just to her outside, Tidal Pool flanking the eventual

winner a little farther out and Harissa (Afleet Alex) settled down toward the

inside through early fractions of :23 3/5 and :47 2/5.

What was a pretty uneventful race to this point was livened up in a hurry

when Diva Delite (Repent) suddenly clipped heels with C C's Pal (Alex's Pal)

when that one came out. Diva Delite went head over heels, sending jockey Julien

Leparoux tumbling to the track hard. Seeking the Title (Seeking the Gold) was

just to the inside of the incident and tripped when Diva Delite fell lengthwise

in front of her. Jockey Kent Desormeaux, aboard Seeking the Title, found himself

halfway out of the saddle and chose a controlled jump to the track, rolling

under the rail, before being unseated.

Desormeaux escaped injury while Leparoux received medical attention

on the track before he was taken to nearby Sinai Hospital for further

examination. Leparoux's friend Fanny Salmon, a television producer

working for HRTV, spoke with him after he returned to the jockey

quarters, took possession of his belongings and was driving to the

hospital.

"He broke a tooth and he's experiencing some chest pains," Salmon

said. "He has a bruise and they want to take X-rays to know exactly what

is wrong with him."

Leparoux, the 2009 Eclipse Award-winning jockey, is scheduled to ride

Pleasant Prince (Indy King) in Saturday's Preakness S. (G1). Desormeaux

has the mount aboard Paddy O'Prado (El Prado [Ire]), the third-place

finisher in the Kentucky Derby (G1).

Acting Happy was making just her fourth career start for trainer Richard

Dutrow in this spot. The dark bay lass broke her maiden in her career debut by 1

3/4 lengths on January 24 at Gulfstream Park, then posted a pair of second-place

runs against allowance rivals in February and March. Not seen in competition

since the latter of those races, the sophomore filly improved her record to

4-2-2-0 with this one and boosted her earnings to $141,540.

"The reason why I picked this spot is the longer the distance the

better for her," Dutrow said. "And she's two-turns also. I didn't want

to mess around with any one-turns with her. I've always liked this

horse. As you can see, I ran her a mile and eighth her first start.

She's probably the best filly I've ever had. I just can't wait to see

more of her.

"I'm going to target the (August 21) Alabama ([G1] at Saratoga)," he

added. "I don't care if I don't run her back until then. I'm not saying

that's what we'll do, but we will target that race and we'll just kind

of float and glide along as we go."