By Alan Carasso
C Two Racing Stable and Mathis Stables' The Queens M G (Thousand Words) provided her freshman sire (by Pioneerof the Nile) with a second juvenile stakes winner Thursday afternoon, returning $91 to her backers for a convincing 2 3/4-length victory in the Listed Schuylerville Stakes on opening day at Saratoga.
The dark bay triggered a similarly hefty mutuel when graduating at first asking at Keeneland in April, but she flopped home last of seven as the 21-10 favorite behind Whatintheliteral (Lord Nelson) in the local June 6 Astoria S. after being acquired privately by these connections and the betting public jumped ship in large numbers.
Drawn gate 11, The Queens M G and the rest of the Schuylerville field were forced to stand in the gate for several minutes while 'TDN Rising Star' and 5-2 second choice Complexion (Complexity) played up in the stalls, tossing jockey John Velazquez out the back of the stall on a few occasions. But the $3,500 Fasig-Tipton October bargain was away alertly once the gates flew back and sat three wide in the breeze behind an opening quarter in a flashy :21.89. Going nicely on the turn, The Queens M G rolled up outside favored Viggiedal (Vekoma) in upper stretch, surged to the lead with better than a furlong to travel and went on to score by about two lengths.
Sherbini (Cairo Prince), whose auction-restricted graduation at Churchill June 16 looked that much better when runner-up Strong State (Tom's d'Etat) won her maiden earlier in the day, was a country mile back in the early stages, but was full of run through the line to round out the exacta. 'TDN Rising Star' Long Neck Paula (Uncle Mo), excluded from the Astoria by the stewards, also came from far back and held third just ahead of the late-running Carmen's Candy Jar (Vino Rosso). Whatintheliteral stumbled badly at the break, casting Javier Castellano to the ground. The rider hopped right up and he and horse appeared to emerge uninjured. Slang (Omaha Beach) was eased out of the race at an early stage and ultimately dumped jockey Ricardo Santana, Jr., who was also unharmed. Slang was vanned off the track after getting loose for several minutes.
The winning conditioner still hasn't figured out what went wrong in the Astoria, where The Queens M G was beaten better than 18 lengths.
“She ran as poor as a horse could run and we were feeling really down,” the Barbadian said. “She checked out after the race fine and we couldn't find any soundness issue. She was bumped hard in her last start–a lot of things went against her that day–but we don't know why she ran bad. I figured we'd carry forward like that race didn't exist and train her to the Schuylerville.”
And for the locally born and raised Dylan Davis, the victory could not have been much sweeter.
“It is incredible. Saratoga-native and any win is special here, but to win the feature of the day is great,” he said.
Pedigree Notes:
Thousand Words, a $1-million Keeneland September yearling, is off to a very positive start at Spendthrift Farm, with six individual winners, a number that also includes Debutante Stakes victress Vodka With a Twist.
The Queens M G is inbred 4×3 to Unbridled, making her a live candidate to thrive as the distances get longer over the course of the summer and fall and beyond. All of the black-type in the filly's pedigree is in the third dam, and the mating to this stallion looks clever upon further examination.
Parade Queen was herself an outstanding turf router for trainer Neil Howard and produced SW & GISP Untouched Talent (Storm Cat), whose son Bodemeister (Empire Maker) won the GI Arkansas Derby and was the unluckiest sort of runner-up in the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness Stakes in 2012. Also the dam of GISP Fascinating (Smart Strike), Untouched Talent also accounted for SP Himiko (American Pharoah) and the multiple Grade II winner Under the Stars (Pioneerof the Nile). This is also the family of GISW She's A Julie (Elusive Quality).
Show Queen was most recently bred to Independence Hall.
Thursday, Saratoga
SCHUYLERVILLE S., $175,000, Saratoga, 7-11, 2yo, f, 6f, 1:11.31, ft.
1–THE QUEENS M G, 120, f, 2, by Thousand Words
1st Dam: Show Queen, by Grindstone
2nd Dam: Talent Queen, by Elusive Quality
3rd Dam: Parade Queen, by A.P. Indy
($3,500 Ylg '23 FTKOCT). 1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. O-C Two
Racing Stable and Mathis Stable LLC; B-T.F. VanMeter, Samuel
Hernandez, Jesus Torres, Justin Vinalay (KY); T-Saffie A. Joseph,
Jr.; J-Dylan Davis. $96,250. Lifetime Record: 3-2-0-0, $144,380.
2–Sherbini, 120, f, 2, Cairo Prince–Shady Violence, by Violence.
($8,000 Wlg '22 KEENOV; $5,000 Ylg '23 OBSOCT; $40,000 2yo
'24 OBSMAR). 1ST BLACK TYPE. O-Tina Casse, Gerald
Hunsicker, Rocky Top Stable (Ventura) and Ventura, James;
B-Pike Place Racing & Roger Keith Long (KY); T-Mark E. Casse.
$35,000.
3–Long Neck Paula, 120, f, 2, Uncle Mo–Take Charge Paula, by
Take Charge Indy. ($325,000 Ylg '23 KEESEP; $500,000 2yo '24
OBSMAR). 1ST BLACK TYPE. O-Will Stroud; B-WinStar Farm,
LLC (KY); T-Wesley A. Ward. $21,000. 'TDN Rising Star'
Margins: 2 3/4, 3 3/4, HD. Odds: 44.50, 7.70, 6.40.
Also Ran: Carmen's Candy Jar, Aoraki, Viggiedal, Complexion, Dreamgirl, West Memorial, Slang, Whatintheliteral. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
Huge upset in the Schuylerville! 🤯
THE QUEENS M G, the 2YO daughter of @spendthriftfarm stallion Thousand Words, pulls off a big win under @DavisJockey for trainer @SaffieJosephJr at 44-1 odds! pic.twitter.com/4DAT1bH6Q1
— NYRA (🎪) (@TheNYRA) July 11, 2024
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