Godolphin’s Questing grabbed command of Saturday’s Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama
Stakes soon after the start and never looked back en route to a dominating
nine-length win. The Kiaran McLaughlin pupil gave jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. his
third career Grade 1 score when completing 1 1/4 miles in 2:01 1/5 over
Saratoga’s fast main track, and returned $6.40, $4.40 and $3.50 as the 2-1
second favorite.
Questing received quite a bump from In Lingerie to her outside when the gates
opened, but never lost focus as she headed straight to the front. Zo Impressive
attempted to go with the Hard Spun filly for a brief moment, but quickly settled
into a stalking position on the rail with Grade Hall and In Lingerie running to
her outside.
Questing proceeded to set quick fractions on the backstretch, ticking off
splits of :22 4/5, :46 and 1:09 3/5, but showed no signs of slowing down as she
entered the turn. Grace Hall was done by that point, but In Lingerie was just
beginning her move on the outside while Zo Impressive continued to run
one-paced. Via Villaggio, meanwhile, was gearing up from the rear of the field,
but it was all for naught as Questing simply opened up in the lane.
“She was going fast, but she was so relaxed. I kept my hands down, and she
was moving so easily. She was just galloping. Her ears were up and she was
playing with her ears. She was amazing. I never rode one like that,” Ortiz said.
In Lingerie proved best of the rest, finishing eight lengths in front of Via
Villaggio while Zo Impressive was another 1 1/4 lengths back in fourth. Grace
Hall followed in fifth by 12 3/4 lengths, with Sea Island and Uptown Bertie, who
was taken out of the race early after being squeezed between horses entering the
first turn, completed the order under the wire.
“In these situations, you finish second and tip your hat to the winner,”
acknowledged Todd Pletcher, trainer of In Lingerie. “There’s nothing else we
could have done. We got exactly the trip we wanted. The fractions were obviously
plenty stout enough. The other filly was too good today. We were second best.”
“Going that fast I thought (Questing) would have come back to me a little bit
and maybe make it an interesting race, but that wasn’t the case,” said John
Velazquez, who had piloting duties aboard the runner-up. “She kept running.
Going to the half-mile pole I was saying ‘I think I got it, we’re going fast
enough.’
“Psshh. I moved up a little bit, and the winner took off.”
Zo Impressive was pulled up and vanned off after the wire. Celeste Kunz,
on-call veterinarian for the American Association of Equine Practitioners,
explained that the gray lass suffered a fracture to her right front cannon bone.
“It was what we describe as a lateral condylar fracture. That is the bone
above the ankle,” Kunz described. “It was obvious that it was displaced, but it
did not fracture the skin. A compression boot was put on, which fits and looks
like a ski boot and contains that fracture. She was put on the horse ambulance
and vanned back to her barn, where Dr. (James) Hunt was going to take X-rays to
see the extent of the injury.
“It is a career-threatening injury depending on the extent of the fracture
and if any other bones were involved, but it does not appear life-threatening at
this point. She was able to walk off the ambulance.”
Despite her insurmountable lead in the lane, Questing didn’t make it easy on
her rider while weaving back and forth across the track in what appeared to be
vehement protest to the whip. The sophomore filly and Ortiz are now
three-for-three, having previously taken an optional claimer at Belmont and the
Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks, the latter of which was Ortiz’s first Grade
1 victory. The winner’s share from the Alabama doubled Questing’s earnings to
$674,874 and her line now reads 9-4-1-1.
“I was thinking (the pace) was too fast, but I liked the way she was doing
it,” McLaughlin said. “I looked behind her, and a lot of them were riding hard
to keep up. I was nervous about the fractions, but she was doing it the right
way.
“I think she was ducking each way a little bit today, instead of all the time
left-handed, but as long as she’s five in front I’m not worried about it. I
don’t think she was getting tired. She’s more just looking around, ducking a
little bit.
“She’s a special filly. I’m glad we have her on dirt here in North America
and that we tried her on it. She could have won today going a mile and a half.”
With Saturday’s impressive display, Questing is now the one to catch in the
Eclipse race for champion three-year-old filly honors.
“It appears that way right now,” the horseman stated when asked if Questing
was the top three-year-old filly in the United States. “She’s definitely the
best three-year-old filly in America on the dirt.”
The bay miss debuted in her native Great Britain, breaking her maiden at
Newbury last June before recording a pair of neck misses when third in the Group
3 Prestige Stakes and second in the Group 3 Oh So Sharp Stakes. Trainer John
Gosden then shipped Questing to the United States for the Breeders’ Cup, but she
could do no better than fifth while trying dirt for the first time in the
Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on November 4.
Questing wasn’t seen again until McLaughlin saddled her for a close fourth
back on the turf at Gulfstream Park in mid-March, and then ran off-the-board
when trying Belmont’s grass in mid-May. It wasn’t until McLaughlin switched his
charge back to dirt that Questing found new life, and she has been unstoppable
since.
The Darley-bred filly, who ran in the Godolphin blue for the first time in
the CCA Oaks, is out of the dual-listed winning Seeking the Gold mare Chercheuse,
who concluded her time on track with a third in the C.E.R.F. Handicap at Del Mar
in 2003. Chercheuse is herself a daughter of the Storm Bird mare Sassy Bird, who
also produced Group 2-placed listed diva Asawer and is probably best known as a
full sister to Group 2-winning sire Mukaddamah. Another of Sassy Bird’s siblings
is the granddam of multiple Grade 1 sprinter Switch.
Questing’s fourth dam is noted Broodmare of the Year and 1966 Alabama queen
Natashka, and this black-type rich female line includes the likes of multiple
Group 1 stars, highweights and half-siblings Ezzoud and Distant Relative; Grade
3-winning top sire Elusive Quality; Group 1 Irish St Leger heroine Dark Lomond;
German and Italian champion Gold and Ivory; and Grade/Group 1 scorers Gregorian
and Capote Belle.
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