Quality Response easily wins stakes debut in Phone Chatter

CYPRESS, Calif. – Quality Response remained unbeaten after two starts, and won her stakes debut, in Thursday’s $75,000 Phone Chatter Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Los Alamitos.

Quality Response ($2.40) rallied four wide in early stretch in a field of four before drawing away under jockey Joe Talamo, winning by 5 1/2 lengths. She ran 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:16.71.

Quality Response was third on the backstretch and took the lead well before the final furlong.

“I like the way she sat back there,” trainer bob Baffert said. “She’s a quiet filly. That throws you off.

“I was hoping she’d run like she did. They were real wide. Joe rode with a lot of confidence.”

Convoluted (8-1) closed from last to finish second, a length in front of 17-1 Aqua Seaform Shame. Mean Sophia (7-2) was last in the small field. Paid Informant was withdrawn early Thursday.

The Phone Chatter Stakes was restricted to fillies who had not won a first-place purse of $50,000 to the winner in a stakes.

Quality Response, by Quality Road, won her debut in a maiden special weight race for fillies at 5 1/2 furlongs by 7 1/4 lengths at Del Mar on Sept. 1. Owned by Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman, Quality Response was purchased for $200,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September yearling sale.