Trainer Cherie DeVaux achieved Saturday what many trainers work a lifetime to attain when taking Keeneland's GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup with Lael Stables' She Feels Pretty (Karakontie {Jpn}). After having a day to digest the watershed moment, she summed up the experience succinctly.
“Awesome … amazing.”
According to DeVaux, a couple of changes factored in the filly's second Grade I win and DeVaux's first at the Lexington oval.
“We expected her to run a good race,” DeVaux said. “She was training well… she always trains well. She has a couple quirks, but adding the blinkers and [jockey] Johnny V [Velazquez] keeping her covered up made the difference.”
DeVaux ruled out a possible Breeders' Cup run in three weeks but indicated the 2024 campaign for She Feels Pretty might not be done.
“[The QE II] was the goal for the year, even at the start of the year,” DeVaux said. “The Breeders' Cup would be too close, but maybe a race like the [$300,000] [GI] American Oaks.”
The American Oaks, run at a mile and a quarter, is scheduled for Dec. 26 at Santa Anita.
Highclere Thoroughbred Racing's Soprano (Ire) (Starspangledbanner (Aus) is scheduled to return to England on Tuesday, according to Charles Eddery, who has overseen the filly's preparations at Keeneland for trainer George Boughey.
“She just bumped into a good one [Saturday],” Eddery said of the runner-up. “George was able to watch the race and was delighted with the way she ran for her first time in North America.”
Soprano might return to the U.S. for the GI Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 2.
“There will be a discussion later [Sunday] with George and Harry [Herbert of Highclere], and it might be on the card to go [to the Breeders' Cup],” Eddery said. “She normally runs every three weeks and takes to racing well.”
Plans remain undetermined for third-place finisher Caitlinhergrtness (Omaha Beach).
“We were very proud of her effort,” trainer Kevin Attard said of the filly, who is owned by Siena Farm and WinStar Farm. “I'm going to have a discussion with Elliott [Walden of WinStar] and decide on that.”
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