Super Quick, Lady Scarlet Make the Grade at Pimlico

Marylou Whitney Stables' Super Quick  lived up to her name in the $148,500 Allaire DuPont Distaff (G3) at Pimlico Race Course May 20, taking charge from the start and rolling to a front-running 14 1/4-length victory over favored Exotic West .

Capitalizing on the scratch of the speedy Lil Kings Princess , Super Quick was able to comfortably shake clear of her rivals early in the 1 1/8-mile Allaire DuPont—though she threw down fast splits of :23.53, :46.39, and 1:09.92 to do so. All alone up front, the hot pace did not exact a toll, and her rivals came under unsuccessful urging from their jockeys to try to keep up. Then in the stretch Super Quick poured it on with urging from Florent Geroux, hitting the finish with a near-record time of 1:47.78.

"She's named correctly," trainer Norm Casse said. "She's super quick and we just try to stay out of her way. She's best if you let her get into the race early, get into her own rhythm, and then let her get on cruise control, and Flo did a great job doing that." 

Exotic West, last of five early, launched a wide move to reach contention on the second turn but her rally flattened out. She finished a length ahead of Frost Point  in third. Click to Confirm  and Into Vanishing  completed the order of finish.

A homebred for Marylou Whitney Stables, now headed by Whitney's husband John Hendrickson following Whitney's death in 2019, Super Quick ($6.20) is a 4-year-old daughter of Super Saver   out of the Cape Town mare Quick Town . She is the second stakes winner for her dam, who has produced 10 foals, five winners, and three black-type horses. The dam's youngest foal is a McKinzie   colt foaled this year.

The winner, who had finished in a dead-heat for third last month in the Baird Doubledogdare Stakes (G3) at Keeneland, is 4-1-2 in 11 starts with earnings of $347,649.

Video: Allaire DuPont Distaff S. (G3)

Lady Scarlet Rebounds in Miss Preakness

Lady Scarlet  began to move steadily up her conditions for trainer Mike Maker after she was claimed for $150,000 from breeder Pop-A-Top and trainer Brad Cox by Paradise Farms and David Staudacher last November. The 3-year-old daughter of Union Rags   broke her maiden the day she was claimed at Churchill Downs, and after finishing fifth for her new connections, she took an allowance optional claiming race in February at Oaklawn Park and won the Cicada Stakes March 19 at Aqueduct Racetrack by 4 3/4 lengths.

Then came her first try at graded competition in the Beaumont Stakes (G3), where she set the pace but she faltered and finished fourth by 11 lengths racing about seven furlongs April 10 at Keeneland.

Cutting back to three-quarters Friday in the $150,000 Miss Preakness Stakes (G3), the result was a filly back on an upward trajectory. After tracking third early, Lady Scarlet rolled up outside frontrunners Happy Soul  and Gimmick  and widened away to take her first graded stakes by 3 3/4 lengths under jockey Irad Ortiz Jr.

"We left it up to Irad to be creative," Maker said. "If they hooked up on the lead, so be it. If they gave (the lead) to us, so be it. I think she can go either way. She won on the lead before, and she's won from coming off it. So it worked out perfectly."

Happy Soul, favored at 4-5 in the field of six, went to the front in the six-furlong race, pressed through a quarter in :23.01 and a half in :45.58 by Gimmick. Lady Scarlet was content to rate just off the contested pace, then shifted three-wide mid-turn and was roused to make her move heading into the lane.

"I got a perfect trip," Ortiz noted. "She broke good from a great position. I waited for the time to roll, and she did very well. She did everything right, everything perfect. They went out a little fast and I was right there behind them and waiting for the time to go. I had plenty left." 

The final time was 1:10.07 on the fast main track. Lady Scarlet returned $7.40 on a $2 win ticket. Happy Soul and Gimmick completed the trifecta. Under the Stars and Sweet Solare were scratched.

Bred in Kentucky out of the Include mare Exclude , Scarlet Lady failed to meet her reserve when the hammer fell at $72,000 at the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. The mare has an unraced Street Sense   2-year-old named Exclusively Kelly and a Cairo Prince   yearling filly.

Of claiming Lady Scarlet for $150,000, Maker remarked, "It sounds like a lot, which it is, but with the purse structure that there is, the prices of horses have gone up.

"I think she's a good horse and there's plenty of races out there," he added.

Video: Miss Preakness S. (G3)