Saratoga: Classic Q leads 11 3-year-old fillies in Lake George

Classic Q will look to make it back-to-back stakes wins at Saratoga in Saturday’s Grade 3, $175,000 Lake George.

Conditioned by Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse for Hugh Dailey, Gary Barber and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, the Classic Empire gray enters the 1 1/16-mile inner turf test for sophomore fillies from a gate-to-wire score in the Wild Applause on July 3. There, she showed the way through splits of 23.34, 46.46 and 1:10.25 under returning rider Jose Ortiz and stayed on strong to the wire to repel the bid of returning rival Play With Fire for a half-length score in a final time of 1:33.21.

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Casse said he was pleased with the winning effort, which registered a career-best 87 Beyer Speed Figure from Daily Racing Form, but also that he doesn’t believe his filly needs to be on the lead.

"There wasn't any speed in the race last time. I prefer and I think Jose prefers to try and get her to settle,” said Casse, who recently secured his 4,000th career win in North America. “Now, we're going another sixteenth of a mile, but we'll take a closer look at the race and see. She's training well and she likes it here, so we're going to give it a shot.

"Last time, Chad's horse (Lavender Disaster) did put a little pressure on us, and she put that horse away,” added Casse, who won this event last year with Pounce as part of a tremendous day that saw the conditioner win seven races across the continent. “If we do go to the lead and they run with her, they won't be around at the end. But we'll see.”

Classic Q, who starts from post 5 with jockey Jose Ortiz, made her first four starts at Gulfstream Park, graduating at second asking in January ahead of a first stakes try in the one-mile Hurricane Bertie (G3) where she was nosed out of show honors by returning rival Daisy Flyer.

The $40,000 Keeneland September yearling sale purchase followed with a 1 3/4-length fourth in the Sanibel Island in March at Gulfstream where she broke slowly in a field of 10. She returned to winning form in April with an emphatic 4 3/4-length Churchill Downs allowance win versus elders that preceded a pacesetting seventh in the 1 1/8-mile Regret (G1) there won by Fionn, next out winner of the Belmont Oaks Invitational (G1) in course-record fashion.

Bred in Kentucky by Winning Bloodstock, Classic Q is out of the winning Scat Daddy mare Lovely Em, who also produced the stakes-placed Copper Em.

Five-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown will look for a record extending eighth win in this event as he sends out the second-and-third-place finishers from the Wild Applause in Play With Fire (post 10, Manny Franco) and Lavender Disaster (post 4, Irad Ortiz, Jr.).

Brown’s past Lake George winners include Mrs McDougal (2015), Ancient Secret (2016), Regal Glory (2019), Selflessly (2020), Technical Analysis (2021), Dolce Zel (2022) and Surge Capacity (2023).

Play With Fire, a daughter of Oscar Performance, captured the Hilltop in rallying fashion over returning rival Pretty Lavish on May 16 for trainer Brendan Walsh. She was purchased privately out of that event and transferred to Brown, returning to action in the Wild Applause where she tracked from a distant third position under Flavien Prat but could not run down the freewheeling Classic Q.

Bred in Minnesota by Lothenbach Stables and owned by LSU Stables, Play With Fire is out of the Street Sense mare Streaming Fire, a half-sister to Grade 3-winner City Attraction.

Lavender Disaster, bred and owned by Peter Brant, has won two of her four starts. She graduated on debut in September at Belmont at the Big A ahead of a troubled effort in the Miss Grillo (G2) one month later there where she was carried out in the final turn by a stablemate.

The Into Mischief dark bay returned to action in May with a three-quarter length score versus elders in a one-mile allowance at Belmont at the Big A. Last out, she briefly pressed Classic Q on the lead in the Wild Applause before acquiescing and landing a 2 1/4-length third.

Lavender Disaster is out of the graded stakes-winning Medaglia d’Oro mare Cafe Americano, a half-sister to multiple graded stakes-placed Angelou. Her second dam is Roxy Gap, the 2012 Sovereign Award Champion Older Mare and Female Sprinter in Canada. 

Calumet Farm’s Kentucky homebred Daisy Flyer, who starts from post 3 with Jose Lezcano riding, graduated at second asking in September in a one-mile maiden at Kentucky Downs where she bested next-out maiden winner Poema by a head after closing from ninth of 11. 

Trained by Rusty Arnold, the Mshawish bay was off-the-board in the aforementioned Miss Grillo but returned to racing in March with a smart closing effort in the one-mile Grade 3 Herecomesthebride when rallying from last of nine to finish a neck third at 87-1.

“Her 2-year-old year was better than it looked,” Arnold said. “She got beat first time and then she won at Kentucky Downs in a pretty good race. She got injured in the Miss Grillo and missed the rest of the year, but we've always been high on this filly.

“We're hoping to get her back to that point where we can run her a mile and a quarter, mile and a half. That's what she wants, but we have to get started here,” he added.

Daisy Flyer, out of the dual Grade 3-winning Galileo mare Starstruck, is a half-sister to graded stakes-placed Time for Trouble, stakes-winner Turf War and multiple stakes-placed Scarabea.

The Lake George is slated as race 9 on Saturday’s 12-race card which also features the Jim Dandy (G2) in race 10. First post is 12:35 p.m. EDT.