Sentiero Italia seeks first Grade 1 win in QE II Challenge Cup

LEXINGTON, Ky. – If not for running against the great Lady Eli in a $1 million race, Sentiero Italia would be undefeated since the spring. That terrific 4-for-5 streak should be enough to make the Godolphin homebred a solid favorite to knock out her first Grade 1 victory Saturday in the $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland.

Sentiero Italia enters the 32nd QE II off victories in the Lake Placid at Saratoga and the Sands Point at Belmont Park. Both are Grade 2 races in which the daughter of Medaglia d’Oro won in convincing fashion as the favorite.

“She’s probably as good mentally as she’s ever been,” said Jimmy Bell, the Lexington-based racing manager for Godolphin’s American interests.

Sentiero Italia, with Joel Rosario to ride, was assigned the outside post in a field of nine 3-year-old fillies in the QE II, a 1 1/8-mile turf fixture that anchors the Saturday card as the ninth of 10 races.

Kiaran McLaughlin, who won the QE II in 2008 with 11-1 shot Alwajeeha, is the trainer of Sentiero Italia, who went through her maiden and first allowance conditions in the spring before finishing in a dead heat for fourth behind Lady Eli in the $1 million Belmont Oaks Invitational on July 4. Her back-to-back Grade 2 victories then followed.

From the hedge and with riders, this is the QE II lineup: Mizz Money, Robby Albarado; Prize Exhibit, Silvio Gonzalez; Miss Temple City, Drayden Van Dyke; Her Emmynency, Florent Geroux; Return to Grace, Joe Rocco Jr.; Olorda, Irad Ortiz Jr.; Blond Me, Junior Alvarado; Feathered, Javier Castellano; and Sentiero Italia, Rosario.

The QE II is the sixth and last Grade 1 race of the 17-day fall meet, which runs through Oct. 24 and will be followed by Breeders’ Cup weekend Oct. 29-31.