Classic Q surpasses millionaire mark with front-running win in Distaff Turf Mile

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Classic Q looks more greyhound than gorilla. She’s by Classic Empire, not a failure at stud, not a hot sire by any means, and out of a Scat Daddy mare. Mark Casse likes Scat Daddy as a broodmare sire. He liked the gray filly he saw at the Keeneland September yearling sale and got her for just $40,000.

“I bought her for my wife and our dear friend Hugh Dailey,” Casse said. “And then, of course, as I always do, I sold our half to Gary and Eclipse.”

Casse still trains Classic Q. Daily’s Blue Crevalle Stables, Gary Barber, and Eclipse Thoroughbreds campaign her. And on Saturday, the $40,000 yearling went over $1 million in earnings when she held off Portfolio Duration and won the $976,000 Distaff Turf Mile by a neck.

She did so under a quietly masterful ride by John Velazquez, who walked the fine line between letting Classic Q do too much and taking too much away from her. Classic Q likes to lead, can get aggressive, and going into the first turn, rail-drawn Italian Soiree and Manny Franco had designs on the front end.

“It’s him and myself, the speed,” Velazquez said. “My filly, I tried to rate her the best I can without her getting too aggressive and throwing her head up. Got to the first turn, she threw her head up. I said, you know what, just take a long hold and hold her and see how far I can hold it.”

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The Distaff Turf Mile disappeared behind infield tents on the backstretch. Classic Q pressed Italian Soiree before when they went behind the blinds, but coming out, going to the half-mile pole, Italian Soiree had started backing up and the lead was Classic Q’s. Velazquez might have let her out barely a notch, the half-mile split passed in a modest 47.93. Temptable and Movin’ On Up closed in at the three-eighths pole, but Velazquez waited some more.

“I waited until the quarter pole, got that little spurt out of her, and she was good enough to win it,” Velazquez said.

Not by much. Portfolio Duration, making just her fourth start to Classic Q’s 14th, rising sharply in class from a first-level Tampa Bay Downs allowance, raced midpack under Flavien Prat to the three-furlong marker. Prat started moving and found room coming off the turn to get his mount outside. Portfolio Duration, about five wide, came between Movin’ On Up and Pin Up Betty at the three-sixteenths, churned a bit before finally winding up at the eighth-pole, then set off after Classic Q. She closed steadily, but Velazquez had saved just enough.

“It’s probably a touch too short for her, and Classic Q, its probably a perfect distance for her,” Prat said. “I thought she ran a really good race.”

Pin Up Betty, second by a neck in this race a year ago, finished third this year, 2 1/5 lengths behind Portfolio Duration and a head better than Movin’ On Up. Classic Q clocked 1:34.71 over a firm course and paid $15.62 in a field of nine.

Classic Q led and held second behind top-class Lush Lips in the Honey Fox on Feb. 28 at Gulfstream Park. Casse decided to wait, keep the filly fresh, and aim for the Distaff Turf Mile. Classic Q posted only three workouts between the Honey Fox and Saturday’s race. Her next stop could be the Grade 1 Just a Game, a Saratoga mile on June 6. The waters get deeper, but this filly’s a millionaire.

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