Well-Matched Group Entered in QE II Challenge Cup
Grade 1 winners Minorette and Personal Diary top an evenly matched field of nine 3-year-old fillies entered Wednesday for Saturday’s 31st running of the $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Presented by Lane’s End (G1).
The 1 1/8-mile grass test will go as the ninth race on Saturday’s 10-race program with a 5:13 p.m. ET post time.
Minorette earned her Grade 1 victory in the Belmont Oaks Invitational going 1¼ miles on July 5. In her most recent start, she finished fourth behind QE II rival Crown Queen in the Lake Placid (G2) at Saratoga on Aug. 16.
Trained by Chad Brown, Minorette is owned by Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith, the same partnership that owned 2011 QE II winner Together (IRE). Joel Rosario, who won the 2010 QE II on Harmonious, has the mount on Minorette and will break from post position two.
Brown, who saddled 2012 QE II winner Dayatthespa, also trains Ball Dancing, winner of the Sands Point (G2) at Belmont in her most recent start. Joe Bravo has the mount on Ball Dancing, who will break from post position six.
Personal Diary, trained by Vicki Oliver and owned by G. Watts Humphrey Jr. and St. George Farm Racing, enters Saturday’s race off a victory in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks on Aug. 16. Personal Diary will break from post position five and be ridden by Corey Nakatani.
In addition to Ball Dancing and Crown Queen, Sagamore Farm’s Daring Dancer also has a Grade 2 victory on her resume. Trained by Graham Motion, who won the 2003 QE II with Film Maker, Daring Dancer won the Lake George in July at Saratoga and this spring won the Appalachian (G3) at Keeneland.
Daring Dancer will break from post position nine and be ridden by Alan Garcia.
The field for the QE II, from the inside out, is: Sistas Stroll (Drayden Van Dyke), Minorette (Rosario), Speed Seeker (James Graham), Aurelia’s Belle (Channing Hill), Personal Diary (Nakatani), Ball Dancing (Bravo), Sea Queen (Irad Ortiz Jr.), Crown Queen (John Velazquez) and Daring Dancer (Garcia). All starters will carry 121 pounds.
Source: Keeneland