Buchu carries ‘home-field advantage’ to Keeneland in QEII

Rigney Racing’s homebred Buchu has not spent a lot of time at Keeneland, but when she does, she makes the most of it.

“We are going to do the same thing we’ve done the past two times and that is ship over the morning of the race,” trainer Phil Bauer said Thursday morning from his main base at Churchill Downs. “I know we don’t train there, but it is almost like a home-field advantage for her and it works well.”

Buchu will come to Keeneland Saturday for the $750,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1) in her bid to remain undefeated at the track. She won the Jessamine (G2) last fall and opened her 2024 campaign with a victory in the Appalachian (G2).

Saturday’s race will mark the first start for Buchu since the Del Mar Oaks (G1) on Aug. 17 in which she finished fourth in a field of eight.

“We felt like the East Coast horses were maybe a little better (than the West Coast horses),” Bauer said. “In the nominations, it looked like there was plenty of speed and then there was not. She was a victim of circumstance, something we couldn’t control.”

Buchu received a little time off after returning from Del Mar and has had three works since.

“She’s doing well, and we freshened her after Del Mar,” Bauer said. “(The Queen Elizabeth II) was our target all year. It’s a lofty goal, but she’s not that far off (from the top fillies). Maybe we could pick up the pieces with some early speed in there.”