Classic Q takes down Lush Lips in thrilling First Lady

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The 4-year-old filly Classic Q has won big races before, but she has never won a big race running quite like she did Saturday at Keeneland in the First Lady Stakes.

A front-running winner of the Grade 2 Distaff Turf Mile in May, and a front-running winner of the Grade 1 Just a Game in June, Classic Q sat a wide third around the first turn, remained in third, several lengths behind her pacesetting stablemate And One More Time, down the backstretch, and when she passed the three-eighths pole, Classic Q was tasked with doing something relatively unfamiliar: passing horses in the homestretch.

Asked if he thought Classic Q was on a path to victory going around the First Lady’s second bend, trainer Mark Casse had a succinct answer: “No, I didn’t, honestly.”

Casse probably liked his chances even less at the furlong grounds. Lush Lips, the 2-1 favorite, came into the homestretch absolutely loaded, and when a large gap opened between rail-hugging Love You Anyway and a tiring And One More Time, Lush Lips, displaying world-class acceleration, blasted through, opening a lead of about 1 1/2 lengths. Lush Lips’s ears went straight up, as though she felt her work was done, and as she took her foot off the gas pedal, Classic Q kept coming. When Lush Lips finally felt her presence she jumped back into the game – too late. Lush Lips got a good bob, but Classic Q got the win, home by a nose.

Bless the Broken, wide on both turns after breaking from post 9, finished with interest for third, a half-length behind Lush Lips. Via Arana, a 55-1 shot, made an even later run for fourth, a half-length back of Bless the Broken, while French shipper Mandanaba, second to Classic Q in the Just a Game, raced unprofessionally in the early stages and narrowly bested Expensive Queen for fifth. Expensive Queen raced for the first time since dead-heating for first in the Jenny Wiley here in April; Segesta, the other Jenny Wiley winner, lost her form Saturday and faded to ninth of 10 after tracking the leader.

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Classic Q ran the best race of her life in the Just a Game early in the Saratoga meet, but as summer wore on, the filly started to wilt. Casse had her entered in the Fourstardave Stakes on Aug. 8 at Saratoga but scratched the filly, who showed up instead at Kentucky Downs and checked in a modest third Sept. 5 as the 7-5 favorite in the Ladies Turf. Even then, Classic Q had started to go the right way again.

“She’s just a better horse than she was 45 days ago. She went through a lull at the end of Saratoga,” Casse said.

John Velazquez has ridden Classic Q five times in a row and has gotten to know a talented filly who requires a deft touch.

“The whole thing with her is I try to relax the first part of the race. You just take a little hold; not too much. You take too much, and she throws her head up. Today, I was on the outside, and little by little by little she settled. I was really happy with the filly, the way she was doing everything. I took my time, and when I said to go, she responded,” Velazquez said.

All credit to Classic Q, who took home the winner’s share of the Grade 1, $758,750 First Lady, but Lush Lips probably was the “best” horse in the race.

Surprisingly run down as the odds-on favorite at Ellis Park on Aug. 23, her first race since late February (when she beat Classic Q in the Honey Fox), Lush Lips was back on her game in the First Lady. She took a furlong or so to really settle for Tyler Gaffalione but traveled sweetly down the backstretch while racing sixth along the inside. Gaffalione came to the homestretch with a ton of horse, looking for room. The room came quicker than expected.

“That was the thing - it just opened up a little too soon, and we got there too quick today,” said Gaffalione, who felt his mount waiting on the competition after bursting clear. “She’s got a good long run – it’s just timing it right. The issue was the filly on the outside was so far away, there was probably about four or five paths between us, and just took me a little bit to get my filly over there to go see her.”

Three jumps last the wire, and Lush Lips was back in front by a length. Not that that counts for anything.

Classic Q paid $20.08 to win and ran a mile on firm turf in 1:35.89. Casse trains the filly for Gary Barber, Blue Crevalle Racing, and Eclipse Thoroughbreds. Casse bought Classic Q, a daughter of Classic Empire and Lovely Em, by Scat Daddy, for $40,000 as a yearling. Tina Casse’s Quintessential Racing Florida initially campaigned her with Blue Crevalle, but after Classic Q won a maiden race in her second start, the Casses sold their share, while Barber and Eclipse came in. Classic Q is catalogued in Keeneland’s November mixed sale.

The First Lady is a Breeders’ Cup Challenge race, and Classic Q earned automatic fees-paid entry into the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, a 1 3/16-mile race, farther than Classic Q ever has run.

“I can tell you her owners will want to run in the Breeders’ Cup, so we’ll figure that one out,” Casse said.

Saturday, his horse figured out how to win a big race from off the pace.

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