45-1 shot upsets Essential Quality's half-sister on debut

Essential Quality’s half-sister took the lead into the stretch of her debut race Sunday but got nipped at the wire by a 45-1 shot.

Long shot Sweet Dani Girl geared up on the outside of even-money favorite Famed and scored in a maiden race for 2-year-old fillies at Churchill Downs. The winner covered six furlongs in 1:09.69, returning a healthy $92.60 on a $2 win bet.

Famed is an Uncle Mo filly out of the Elusive Quality mare Delightful Quality. Delightful Quality is also dam to Essential Quality, the 3-year-old Tapit colt whose eight career wins include the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and 2021 Belmont and Travers Stakes.

Like Essential Quality, Famed is a Godolphin homebred trained by Brad Cox. She had one of Cox’s go-to riders, jockey Florent Geroux, up Sunday.

Running on the same track where Essential Quality scored on debut last September, Famed looked in perfect position Sunday to do the same. She tracked the Mark Casse-trained Beautiful Empire through an opening quarter-mile in 21.37 seconds, then took over through the turn to make the half-mile in 44.86.

Famed turned for home in command, but Sweet Dani Girl moved up with a rally of her own. She flew up on the favorite’s outside to win by a length in a race that was her first start as well.

Carlo Vaccarezza trains the Florida-bred Sweet Dani Girl, a Jess’s Dream filly. Vaccarezza also is listed as co-breeder with J&J Stables, which owns the debut winner with Nicholas Vaccarezza.