Crown Queen Exits QEII Win 'In Good Shape'

 

Besilu Stables’ Crown Queen was well the morning after her victory as the 2-1 favorite in Saturday’s $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Presented by Lane’s End (G1), said Rodolphe Brisset, assistant to trainer Bill Mott.

“Everything is fine,” he said. “She ate everything and she looks good this morning. We’re in good shape.”

Crown Queen, a 3-year-old Smart Strike filly who is a half-sister to champion Royal Delta, is undefeated in four races this year.

Brisset said Crown Queen is to remain at Keeneland for the time being with her immediate future – and whether it includes the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1) on Nov. 1 at Santa Anita – to be determined by owner Ben Leon and by Mott. After the QE II, Leon said Crown Queen would remain in training as a 4-year-old, so Keeneland fans might see her again.

“We know she loves the course, and the Breeders’ Cup is here next year,” Brisset said.

John Velazquez rode Crown Queen to his fourth Grade 1 win of the Fall Meet and his third win the QE II. On Oct. 4, Velazquez won the $1 million Shadwell Turf Mile (G1) on Wise Dan, the Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity (G1) on Carpe Diem and the First Lady (G1) on Dayatthespa. He and Joel Rosario have won seven races each here to lead all other riders through the first seven days of the 17-day season.

Baldo Hernandez, assistant to trainer Chad Brown, said Brown’s two QE II runners, Grade 2 winner Ball Dancing and Grade 1 winner Minorette, were fine Sunday morning. He said they would return to Brown’s New York base in the next several days.

Ball Dancing, the second choice, made a late bid to win the race but could not catch Crown Queen and finished second, three-quarters of a length behind the winner. Minorette finished fifth.

Trainer Vicki Oliver said Personal Diary, who finished third in a dead heat with Sistas Stroll, came out of the race in good shape and could possibly run next in the $200,000-added Mrs. Revere (G2) at 1 1/16 miles on Nov. 15 at Churchill Downs.

“She will probably go there or be put away for the year,” said Oliver, who trains Personal Diary for G. Watts Humphrey Jr. and St. George Farm Racing. “She ran well yesterday but the turf was a little soft for her.”

At this time last year, Personal Diary was a maiden winner with a stakes placing. Now she has a Grade 1 victory thanks to the Del Mar Oaks and has placed in two other graded stakes.

“She has always shown a lot,” Oliver said. “People think that she just got good, but she has only been off the board twice in 11 starts and one was on Polytrack and the other when she missed the break.”

Sistas Stroll came out of the race fine, according to Lindsay Schultz, assistant to trainer Tom Proctor.

Trainer Joan Scott said Speed Seeker came out of her seventh-place finish in the QE II “with a few little nicks. She had a tough trip.”

According to the chart of the race, Speed Seeker took a bad step in the far turn and had to be steadied in the stretch.

“I am going to throw this one out and go on,” Scott said. “The Mrs. Revere is definitely the plan.”

 

Source: Keeneland Communications