Coronation for Crown Queen in Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup

Crown Queen held off Ball Dancing to win the $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland Race Course. (Coady Photography)
Crown Queen had all of the makings of an elite racehorse — impeccable pedigree, seven-figure auction price and, most importantly, talent — entering the $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes at Keeneland Race Course on Saturday.
The Grade 1 race offered the half-sister (same dam [mother], different sire [father]) to three-time champion Royal Delta a golden opportunity to prove herself at the top level on the racetrack, and Crown Queen stepped up to the challenge.
The Smart Strike filly settled in fourth then third early as Sea Queen set the tempo through a half-mile in :48.80 on the rain-soaked Keeneland turf that was rated as soft. Crown Queen accelerated powerfully under Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez in the stretch and seized command from Sea Queen before turning back a bid from graded stakes winner Ball Dancing to win by three-quarters of a length.
Crown Queen completed 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.98 for her fourth straight victory.
Ball Dancing, who won the Grade 2 Sands Point Stakes in September in her U.S. debut, rallied willingly for second. She was two lengths clear of both Sistas Stroll and Personal Diary, who finished in a dead heat for third.
Crown Queen entered the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup off a half-length win in the Grade 2 Lake Placid Stakes on Aug. 16 in her stakes debut for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott and owner Ben Leon Jr.’s Besilu Stables.
Crown Queen was purchased by Leon for $1.6-million as a weanling at the 2011 Keeneland November breeding stock sale as part of the dispersal of Prince Saud bin Khaled’s Palides Investments following his death in February of that year.
After finishing third in both of her races as a 2-year-old in 2013, Crown Queen has been unbeatable this year. Her Lake Placid score was preceded by decisive victories at Belmont Park in June and Saratoga Race Course in July.
“We ran her a couple of times as a 2-year-old, and [owner] Mr. [Ben] Leon wanted to give her some time over the winter to mature and grow up a little bit,” Mott said. “It’s worked out perfectly. He made a good call, and she’s undefeated this season and now she’s a Grade 1 stakes winner.”
The QE II Cup victory provides a significant boost to her résumé, and the $300,000 winner’s share of the purse lifted her career earnings to $593,000.
Kentucky-bred Crown Queen is one of five winners from as many starters produced by multiple graded stakes winner Delta Princess, by A.P. Indy. Delta Princess sold for $2.6-million as part of the same dispersal that Crown Queen was purchased out of at the 2011 Keeneland November sale.
Mott trained both Delta Princess and Royal Delta, so the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup victory by Crown Queen was especially gratifying.
“It was a very special win for me since I trained her mother [Delta Princess] and her grandmother [Lyphard’s Delta] and a lot of the family,” Mott said. “It’s a very meaningful win for me.”
For an Equibase chart, click here.
CROWN QUEEN EARNED A GRADE 1 WIN ON SATURDAY AT KEENELAND

Coady Photography