Velazquez to Ride Euro Charline in QEII
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Euro Charline will have the services of Racing Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez when she pursues a second straight grade I victory Oct. 11 in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes at Keeneland.
Team Valor International's filly will return to the 3-year-old ranks after she upstaged elders in the Beverly D. Stakes (gr. IT) Aug. 16 at Arlington Park in her U.S. debut. Ryan Moore was in the saddle that day but cannot make the return trip to the United States for the QEII because of a riding commitment in England.
Velazquez won the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) for Team Valor on Animal Kingdom and is a longtime go-to rider for Euro Charline's new trainer, Todd Pletcher, who received the filly from Newmarket-based Marco Botti after the Beverly D.
Euro Charline breezed a half mile in :50 in company on the inner turf course at Belmont Park on Sunday in her first workout for Pletcher.
"She has really settled in here well," said Pletcher, a multiple Eclipse Award winner.
With the Beverly D. triumph, Euro Charline earned a "Win and You're In" ticket to the $2-million Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (gr. IT) Nov. 1 at Santa Anita Park.
"We're thinking about the Breeders' Cup, but the race we're really focused on and the one we brought her over to try to win is the Queen Elizabeth," said Team Valor chief exectutive Barry Irwin.