Quidura Takes Field Gate to Wire in Ballston Spa
Image:
Description:
Photo: Coglianese Photos/Chris Rahayel
Quidura wins the Ballston Spa at Saratoga Race Course
Peter Brant's Quidura proved too much for her competition Aug. 25, when she led the entire 1 1/16 miles to win the $400,000 Woodford Reserve Ballston Spa Stakes (G2T) at Saratoga Race Course.
Sent off as the second choice to fellow Chad Brown trainee A Raving Beauty, Quidura was asked early to go to the front by jockey Jose Ortiz and stepped on the gas. In the lead by a length, Quidura set a moderate pace for the six-horse field of older fillies and mares with fractions of :24.19, :48.11, and 1:11.37 through the first six furlongs.
Stalking the pace on the outside, Hawksmoor, who made brief contact with Proctor's Ledge at the break, got up to make a serious bid at the five-sixteenths pole. But hugging the hedge on the inside, Quidura came under the left-hand whip from Ortiz and dismissed the late challenge with ease.
Quidura was in command by 1 3/4 lengths as she reached the wire, and completed the turf test in a final time in 1:39.67.
"Perfect trip," said Ortiz. "We wanted to go to the lead, but it didn't matter I had the whole inside, if I wasn't going to go, but once I led her there, she kept going. Good job by Chad."
Indian Blessing finished third, 1 1/4 lengths behind Hawksmoor. Fellow Brown trainees A Raving Beauty and Off Limits took fourth and fifth, respectively, followed by Proctor's Ledge.
Quidura raced twice in Germany before shipping to the States two years ago, and it didn't take long for her to find her footing.
After closing her sophomore year for then-trainer Graham Motion with back-to-back wins, Quidura competed exclusively in graded company as a 4-year-old, finishing second in the Diana Stakes (G1T) before winning the Canadian Stakes (G2T) two months later at Woodbine.
Following an uncharacteristic 6th-place finish in the E.P. Taylor Stakes (G1T) at the end of 2017, the daughter of Dubawi was consigned to The November Sale at Fasig-Tipton that same year, where she was purchased by Brown for $3.6 million on behalf of Brant's White Birch Farm.
Laid off for nine months, Quidura returned to Belmont Park in July and finished second in an optional-claiming allowance race before stepping back up to graded company for the Ballston Spa.
"We bought her at the sale last year and gave her plenty of time off," said Brown. "She's had two starts this year. In her last start, it was on really soft turf that she doesn't like, and she still almost won. Coming off that race, she was training strong and got the firm ground she liked. The track helped her today. The other ones it hurt. It was very, very firm today. Very speed-favoring.
"It's a nice race to win, and I'm grateful for that. I had two other horses in the race that are really nice that didn't hit the board. I have to examine that. I have a feeling it is due to the turf course."
Bred in Great Britain by Stiftung Gestut Fahrhof out of the Acatenango mare Quetena, Quidura is a half sister to group 1 winner Querari and group 3 winner Quasillo. She holds a 5-3-1 record from 11 starts, with $740,788 in earnings.