McKulick, Pizza Bianca top invitation list to Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Invitations for 10 3-year-old fillies to the Grade 1, $600,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup next Saturday (Oct. 15) on the Keeneland turf have been issued by track management, with McKulick and Pizza Bianca heading the list.

McKulick has become the top North American filly in this niche by virtue of her last three races – a win in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks, a second in the Grade 3 Saratoga Oaks, and a win as the odds-on favorite in the Grade 3 Jockey Club Oaks. Along with Dolce Zel, McKulick is one of two fillies trained by Chad Brown to receive an invitation to this 39th running of the QE II.

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Pizza Bianca, trained by Christophe Clement for owner-breeder Bobby Flay, won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf last fall at Del Mar. The Kentucky-bred daughter of Fastnet Rock has been working on a steady basis for her first start since she was eighth in the Group 1 Coronation at Royal Ascot in mid-June.

As of Friday, this is the original list of 10 invitees to the 1 1/8-mile turf race: Bellabel, Cairo Memories, California Angel, Dolce Zel, McKulick, New Year’s Eve, Paris Peacock, Pizza Bianca, Skims, and Vergara.

In addition, six more fillies are on a list of alternates: Diamond Wow, Eminent Victor, Faith In Humanity, Gina Romantica, Souper Hoity Toity, and Spirit and Glory.

Entries for Saturday will be drawn Wednesday.

Brown has won three of the last four renewals of the QE II, and a record four overall. His winners were Dayatthespa (2012), Rushing Fall (2018), Cambier Parc (2019), and Shantisara (2021).

* Nick Tammaro is the new linemaker at Keeneland, replacing Mike Battaglia, who served in that role with since 1974. Tammaro, 38, is a longtime serious handicapper and racing-media personality who lives in Texas, where he is the race-caller at Sam Houston. Meanwhile, Battaglia, a northern Kentucky resident, remains the linemaker at Churchill Downs, where he also has worked for nearly 50 years.

* Navratilova, winner of the Grade 3 Valley View last fall at Keeneland, has been retired, trainer Rusty Arnold said Friday. The 4-year-old Medaglia d’Oro filly won three of 13 starts, all for owner-breeder G. Watts Humphrey Jr., including the 2021 Tepin at Churchill.

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