Quidura seeks Grade 1 status as Brown runs 3 in First Lady

Four Grade 1 turf races for fillies and mares in the East this year have all shared a common outcome: a victory from a Chad Brown trainee and, in some cases, Brown runners also finishing second or third. Brown-trained runners completed the trifecta twice in those races: the Jenny Wiley at Keeneland on April 14 and the Beverly D. at Arlington on Aug. 11.

Brown is hoping for another top-three sweep Saturday in the Grade 1, $400,000 First Lady at Keeneland. He has three entered – A Raving Beauty, Quidura, and Off Limits – and all are contenders.

Two are Grade 1 winners, with A Raving Beauty having won the Just a Game on June 9 at Belmont Park and Off Limits having taken the Matriarch last fall at Del Mar. Quidura, the 2-1 morning-line favorite, came desperately close to winning a Grade 1 last year when second, beaten a head by Lady Eli, in the Diana.

“It would mean a lot for her and for value if she won,” Brown said of Quidura.

But a win by one of Brown’s trio is by no means certain, and a sweep of the trifecta seems unlikely. The seven other entrants in the First Lady are stakes winners, and six are group or graded winners. The other group or graded winners are American-based runners Instant Erma, Dona Bruja, Valadorna, and La Sardane, plus Crown Walk and Indian Blessing, who have largely raced overseas.

Perhaps the only thing missing from the First Lady are Breeders’ Cup implications as a prep race for the Filly and Mare Turf. Although the race serves as a Win and You’re In qualifier for the 1 3/8-mile Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, the horses in the First Lady seem limited to the race’s one-mile distance.

Brown said this week he did not anticipate running any of his three entrants in the Filly and Mare Turf.

Top performers from this race have returned in the Breeders’ Cup Mile against males. Tepin won both races in 2015, when the Breeders’ Cup was at Keeneland, and a year later both First Lady winner Photo Call and runner-up Tepin returned in the BC Mile, with Photo Call 13th and Tepin second.

Zipessa, the 2017 upset winner of the First Lady, ran 11th in last year’s Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar when the race was 1 1/8 miles.

KEY CONTENDERS

A Raving Beauty, by Mastercraftsman Last 3 Beyers: 97-101-100

◗ Group 1-placed in Italy last year, she was exported to the U.S. and proved an immediate

force in the division by taking the Beaugay and Just a Game at Belmont Park. She then raced at Saratoga, running a close third in the Grade 1 Diana before a fourth as the favorite in the Grade 2 Ballston Spa.

“I was disappointed she didn’t fire,” said Brown, who theorized that she might not have cared for the very firm course at Saratoga.

Quidura, by Dubawi Last 3 Beyers: 103-96-84

◗ Although on the lead in both starts this year, most recently in winning the Ballston Spa, she came from just off the pace in top company in 2016-17. Among those races were a pair of fine efforts at Keeneland: a victory over soft ground in the Grade 3 Valley View in the fall of 2016, followed by a third on firm turf in the 2017 Jenny Wiley behind Dickinson and Lady Eli.

Crown Walk, by Dubawi Last 3 Beyers: NA-NA-NA

◗ A French raider, she is the lone 3-year-old filly in the field, though this will not be her first attempt facing her elders. Last out, on July 29, she was second in the Group 1 Prix Rothschild at Deauville, beaten three lengths.

Off Limits, by Mastercraftsman Last 3 Beyers: 97-96-99

◗ Winless in four starts this year after capping her 2017 campaign with a victory in the Matriarch, she needs to improve a few lengths off her current form to win after finishing fifth, beaten three lengths, in the Ballston Spa.

“It’s her last year of racing, so we’ll give her another shot in Grade 1 competition,” Brown said. “She is training really well.”

BARBARA D. LIVINGSTON A Raving Beauty, who won the Just a Game on June 9, is part of Chad Brown’s First Lady trio.