Quezon returns in style with Bouwerie Stakes win

ELMONT, N.Y. – It was not by design that the stakes-winning juvenile filly Quezon didn’t make her 3-year-old debut until Monday at Belmont Park.
A few minor things occurred this winter in south Florida that prevented Quezon from being put back in training in early January as planned.

But Quezon proved worth waiting for as she took advantage of a contested pace to overcome a bobble at the break and a bit of a wide trip to win Monday’s $125,000 Bouwerie Stakes for New York-bred 3-year-old fillies at Belmont Park.

Quezon, under Manny Franco, ran by Lakeside Sunset – formerly ridden by Franco – inside the sixteenth pole and, despite not changing leads, won by 3 1/4 lengths. Lakeside Sunset, who put away her pace challenger, The Lewis Dinner, at the three-sixteenths pole, finished second by two lengths over Temper Mint Patty.

The win was the third in four starts for Quezon, a daughter of Tiz Wonderful owned by Marc Keller and trained by Robert Ribaudo. She is 3 for 3 against New York-breds, with her lone loss coming in the Grade 2 Demoiselle at Aqueduct last November.

Ribaudo took Quezon to Florida this winter and planned to start her back at Gulfstream. But in January, she had an issue with her pastern. In February, five days after resuming training, she popped a splint bone that required more time off. Ribaudo was able to get her back in training in March and targeted the Bouwerie.

“If we don’t have a straw in her path, we’d be ready; she didn’t have a straw in her path,” Ribaudo said he thought at the time. “In the long run, it probably helped us.”

In the Bouwerie, Quezon was helped by a contested pace that had The Lewis Dinner a length in front of Lakeside Sunset through a quarter of 22.58 seconds and a half-mile in 45.73.

Franco had Quezon save ground between horses down the backside, but then they had to go extremely wide turning for home. Despite not changing to her correct lead in the stretch, Quezon shuffled past Lakeside Sunset inside the sixteenth to gain the victory.

“I tried to relax her the first part and make one move,” Franco said. “She didn’t switch; she always runs like that. I’m not going to lose her momentum. I just let her run like that.”

Quezon covered the seven furlongs in 1:23.17 and returned $6.50 as the favorite.

“With the speed in the race, it was perfect,” Ribaudo said. “She was a little farther back than I thought she would be, but she was off in a tangle. I was worried she might be too fresh, but she wasn’t.”

Ribaudo said he likely will target the Grade 3, $150,000 Victory Ride Stakes here July 4 for Quezon.