Two jockeys go flying in Black-Eyed Susan upset

BALTIMORE (AP) -It's difficult to determine which was more stunning: Acting Happy winning the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, or the sight of two horses crossing the finish line without jockeys in the saddle.

Acting Happy was the surprise winner Friday in the Grade 2 race for 3-year-old fillies. After going off as a 10-1 underdog, she gained the lead in the stretch under Jose Lezcano and beat No Such Word by 1 1/2 lengths.

Not long after the top seven horses hit the wire, two more sauntered across the line without riders on top. It's an unusual occurrence when one jockey gets thrown, let alone two, but that's precisely what happened after C C's Pal had her heels clipped by Diva Delight.

Kent Desormeaux, who was behind the mishap on Seeking the Title, was dumped from his horse and Julien Leparoux was tossed from Diva Delite.

“I'm all right, but I don't want to talk right now,” Leparoux said.

A friend of Leparoux, Fanny Salmon, spoke to him after he returned to the jockey quarters and took him 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's wrong with him.”

Leparoux is scheduled to ride Plesant Prince in Saturday's Preakness. It was uncertain whether he would be able to mount the horse.

Desormeaux emerged from the spill in good condition.

“I'm fine,” he said. “I didn't even have the opportunity to release the line on my horse. ... I couldn't hold on. I escaped from injury, but I fear for Julien. I don't think he's going to be so lucky because he's in a lot of pain right now.”

The horses appeared to emerge from the collision in fine shape.

“She looks OK. She wasn't limping or anything,” said Dallas Jones, trainer for Seeking the Title.

Ian Wilkes, trainer for Diva Delite, said, “She looked fine. She had a couple of nicks, but we'll see. She's covered in dirt. She went completely down.”

Acting Happy completed the 1 1/8 mile course in 1 minute, 50 seconds, and paid $22.20, $10.80 and $5.80. She now has two wins and two second-place finishes in four career races.

“She gave me a good kick before the wire,” Lezcano said. “She had something left.”

Tidal Pool, trained by D. Wayne Lukas and ridden by Calvin Borel, finished third.

“No excuses,” Borel said. “She broke clean and ran good. She tried hard and gave it all to the end.”

No Such Word paid $9 and $5.60, and Tidal Pool returned $2.60 on a show bet.