Just a Game top two Althiqa, Summer Romance pointing to Diana

ELMONT, N.Y. – Althiqa and Summer Romance, who finished 1-2 in Saturday’s Grade 1 Just a Game for trainer Charlie Appleby and Godolphin Racing, will remain in the U.S. and point to the Grade 1 Diana at Saratoga on July 17, Appleby said Monday.

Meanwhile, Rebel’s Romance and Desert Peace were scheduled to ship back to Newmarket on Wednesday and will be given a break and be part of Appleby’s Dubai Racing Carnival team for 2022.

Althiqa, under Mike Smith, came with a strong stretch run to reel in the pace-setting Summer Romance by three-quarters of a length in the Just a Game.

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“I was confident one was going to pick up,” Appleby said. “I knew Summer Romance would keep going on the front end. Althiqa is a very tough little filly. Give her a target and she’ll try to run them down, which she did.”

Althiqa and Summer Romance have run in the same race three times this year. Althiqa has beaten Summer Romance twice at a mile. Summer Romance defeated Althiqa in the Group 2 Balanchine at Meydan at 1 1/8 miles, the distance of the Diana.

“Nine furlongs suits Summer Romance,” Appleby said. “Althiqa is now proven at a mile at the Grade 1 level, thankfully. They’re two genuine fillies. Pleasure to have around and they got their just rewards as Grade 1-winning and Grade 1-placed fillies.”

Rebel’s Romance, the UAE Derby winner in March, had been sent to the U.S. to run in the Belmont Stakes. Last week, he developed a hind leg infection, which forced him to miss the race. Appleby said that in talking to his team at Belmont, led by assistant Sophie Chretien, Rebel’s Romance would benefit from a freshening.

“He’s lost a bit of conditioning there with the setback,” Appleby said. “I don’t want to be chasing our tail, as they say, especially at that level. I felt the right thing to do is for him to come back and have a bit of a break.”

Desert Peace finished second in a turf allowance in Saturday’s last race. Appleby was pleased enough with that performance to bring him back to England with an eye to some turf races heading into the Dubai season.