La Coronel, Dream Dancing to get winter break
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LEXINGTON, Ky. – Mark Casse experienced a few moments of sheer terror Saturday when watching La Coronel run in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland via satellite dish at his Ocala, Fla., home.
“They were coming down the stretch and the screen suddenly went blank,” said Casse. “I didn’t know whether she’d won or lost. There were a few very tense moments there.”
La Coronel, on the lead throughout, held off Daddys Lil Darling by a half-length and joined her stablemate Dream Dancing as a Grade 1 stakes winner on turf. Dream Dancing, winner of the Del Mar Oaks in her prior start, was seventh in the QE II. Both 3-year-old fillies are owned by John Oxley.
David Carroll, who oversees the Casse string at Keeneland, confirmed Sunday that both fillies are finished for the year and will be pointed to 4-year-old campaigns that their connections hope will end with the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Churchill Downs. La Coronel is now 3 for 3 over the Keeneland turf, all in graded stakes.
“It’s certainly her favorite course,” said Carroll.
Meanwhile, Wuheida will leave here Oct. 25 for the BC Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar, according to Tim Denniff, head traveling lad for trainer Charlie Appleby. Wuheida, a Godolphin homebred, was scratched from the QE II with a minor hoof problem after finishing fourth in her prior start, the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera in France on Oct. 1.