Quizzical returns to roots in Hastings Handicap

AUBURN, Wash. – While Quizzical has never raced outside of California, her Northwest roots run deep, and some of her most ardent fans will be in attendance Sunday, when she ventures north for a start in the $50,000 Hastings Handicap at Emerald Downs.

Quizzical was bred in Enumclaw, Wash., by Doris Konecny and is from Konecny’s Washington champion mare Mahaska. Quizzical is closing in on the $200,000 mark in earnings for Konecny’s daughter and son-in-law, Susan and Allen Branch, and she is trained in Southern California by Mark Glatt, a Northwest native who left for California in 1996 and never came back.

In her most recent outing April 26 at Santa Anita, Quizzical finished fourth in a restricted $125,000 stakes at six furlongs, her third successive fourth-place finish in stakes company. The trip to Emerald Downs gives her a chance to finally earn a stakes win or placing. It also gives the 5-year-old Cindago mare a chance to get back to the winner’s circle after a 16-month absence.

“We are hoping to win, and we are looking to get some black type on her,” Glatt said. “The Branches are in the breeding business, and down the line, they may want to breed her. She excels in the mud. If we get some rain, that would help her.”

Quizzical’s best recent race came March 1, a second-place finish behind Socialbug in a second-level allowance on a wet-fast surface at Santa Anita.

“She really ran well that day,” Glatt said. “The Baffert, Socialbug, she’s a half-sister to Midnight Lute. We couldn’t match strides with her in the end, but we were a very clear second. In the next start, she was once again in the 1 hole, and the field looked like it was void of early speed, and it didn’t turn out that way. That’s not really her style; she seems to do much better when she’s two or three lengths off of it.

“The other day, she was stuck in between horses the whole way in a fast and very tough race,” Glatt said of Quizzical’s most recent start. “It was a pretty good effort. Our goal was to be third, and we missed by a head.”

Quizzical will face seven rivals, including Stopshoppingdebbie, a Curlin filly making her 2014 debut. Stopshoppingdebbie swept every 3-year-old filly stakes on the schedule last year and is perfect through five starts. She’s the likely favorite.