Quantum Miss holds for Cicada victory

Quantum Miss earned her first graded win in the Cicada (NYRA/Adam Coglianese) Daniel M. Ryan’s homebred QUANTUM MISS (Smoke Glacken) set nearly all the pace in Saturday’s $100,000 Cicada S. (G3) at Aqueduct and had just enough left to hold the late run of Coax Liberty (Successful Appeal) to score by a half-length on the wire. With jockey Cornelio Velasquez aboard, the gray lass finished up six furlongs on the fast inner track in 1:11 4/5. The winner broke on top in the Cicada but quickly had company in the form of Roman Treasure (Roman Ruler). That one was credited with the first quarter in :22 2/5, but Quantum Miss fought back on the outside to take command through splits of :26 and :58 2/5. Roman Treasure faded in the stretch, but Quantum Miss found a new challenger coming hard. Coax Liberty had broken last in the seven-filly field, but settled into a good spot in midpack on the backstretch. She put in a ferocious rally in the lane, but Quantum Miss had held enough in reserve to grab the victory. “She went a little fast the first part of the race,” Velasquez commented. “I tried to relax her, but she fought it too much. I had enough horse at the end.”

Quantum Miss was the 9-5 favorite in the Cicada and paid $5.80, $3.60
and $2.60 for the win. Coax Liberty got the best of Dream (Malibu Moon)
by 2 3/4 lengths, with Roman Treasure finishing another half-length back
in fourth. Maiden winner In Step (Unbridled’s Song), Wild About Sonny
(Officer) and Grade 3 scorer Full Moon Blues (Petionville) completed the
order under the wire.

“I was very impressed,” trainer Tony Dutrow said over the phone. “She broke
right on top, took the worst of it along the backstretch, and held off what
looked like a very good field. Her performance kind of confirms what we thought
all long: she’s a six-furlong filly.

“We’re thinking about eventually running her in the (July 4) Prioress ([G1]
going six furlongs at Belmont Park), with something else in between.”

Quantum Miss raced three times as a juvenile, finishing third at Parx Racing
in September before breaking her maiden on October 29 back at that venue by 5
1/2 lengths. She rounded out her two-year-old campaign by taking her stakes bow
in the Blue Mountain S. at Penn National. The gray miss was shipped south to
make her sophomore debut in the January 5 Old Hat S. (G3) at Gulfstream Park,
but stumbled and was bumped at the start of that contest, winding up fifth.
Given the past couple of months off, she returned ready to run in the Cicada and
now boasts a 5-3-0-1, $150,750, record.

The Pennsylvania-bred filly is out of multiple stakes-placed Quanah County
(Valid Expectations), who has since produced an unnamed juvenile filly by Stevie
Wonderboy and an unnamed yearling filly by Yes It’s True). Quanah County is
herself a
half-sister to stakes-placed Lampsas County (Manzotti), and this is the same
family as 1990 Ohio Derby (G2) hero Private School (Bates Motel).