Dozen Ladies Invited to Keeneland's QE II
Grade 1 stakes winners Alterite (FR) and Discreet Marq top a list of 12 fillies extended invitations for next Saturday’s 30th running of the $400,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1) for 3-year-olds to be run at 1 1/8 miles on the turf.
Martin Schwartz’s Alterite, who was Group 1-placed in France, won the Garden City (G1) at Belmont Park on Sept. 14 in her U.S. debut. Alterite is trained by Chad Brown, who won last year’s QE II with Dayatthespa.
Patricia Generazio’s Discreet Marq won the Del Mar Oaks (G1) before finishing second to Alterite in the Garden City. Also the winner of the Sands Point (G2), Discreet Marq is trained by Christophe Clement. Clement won the 1994 QE II with Danish (IRE).
Other graded or group winners extended invitations include Joyce Young’s Caroline Thomas, Hit The Board Stables’ I’m Already Sexy, Ken and Sarah Ramsey’s Kitten’s Dumplings, Melnyk Racing Stables’ Leigh Court, Sycamore Racing’s Nellie Cashman, Wertheimer and Frere’s Sarach, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith’s Say (IRE) and Glen Hill Farm’s Wishing Gate.
Rounding out the invitees are Andrew Stone’s Concise (GB) and Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Thani’s Topaze Blanche (IRE).
No previous QE II winner has produced a QE II winner, but two of this year’s invitees are daughters of race winners.
Riskaverse, winner of the 2002 renewal, is the dam of Say. Bit of Whimsy, winner of the 2007 race, is the dam of Caroline Thomas.