Quidura outruns Hawksmoor in Ballston Spa

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Thirty minutes after the disappointment of the Travers, trainer Chad Brown was back in familiar territory, the Saratoga winner’s circle, following Quidura’s wire to wire, 1 3/4-length victory over Hawksmoor in the $400,000 Ballston Spa Stakes.

Quidura and jockey Jose Ortiz took advantage of a turf course that favored speed throughout the day, quickly sprinting clear to control the pace while stalked by Hawksmoor throughout. Quidura responded when challenged by Hawksmoor into the stretch, readily dismissed the bid, then held a safe advantage over that rival to the wire with none of the others ever a posing a serious threat through the stretch. Indian Blessing, making her U.S. debut, rallied from last to finish another 1 1/4-lengths back in third.

Quidura, who is owned by Peter Brant, was one of three horses Brown sent out in the Grade 2 Ballston Spa along with the 3-5 favorite A Raving Beauty and Off Limits, who finished noses apart while fourth and fifth, respectively. The outing was just the second of the year for Quidura, a two-time graded stakes winner earlier in her career with Graham Motion, who was purchased privately by Brant at the end of her 2017 campaign.

Quidura traveled 1 1/16 miles over the firm course in 1:39.67 and paid $9.50.

"We bought her at the sale last year and gave her plenty of time off,” said Brown. “I think she needed her last start. She ran on really soft turf, which she doesn’t like, and she still almost won. She trained strong coming out of that race and today she got the firm ground that she likes.”

Brown said winning the Ballston Spa was some consolation following the frustration of the Travers.

“[The Ballston Spa] is a nice race to win and we’re grateful for that, but I still had two other horses in the race that didn’t hit the board, and I have to examine that,” said Brown. “The course was very, very firm today. Very speed favoring. It helped this horse, but hurt some of the others. Its a little troubling the track got so biased on the biggest race day of the meet. I don’t know what to attribute it to – this isn’t the way the track’s been all meet. But everyone has to run over the same track as well, and you just have to make adjustments.”