Shantisara roars in Queen Elizabeth II as Brown victory spree continues
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Shantisara continued the recent roll for trainer Chad Brown, as the filly kicked clear of stablemate Technical Analysis for a five-length victory in Saturday's Grade 1, $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup for 3-year-old turf fillies, the final Grade 1 event of Keeneland's front-loaded fall meeting.
In the three weekends preceding the Queen Elizabeth II, Brown, who was not present Saturday at Keeneland, won seven graded stakes. He swept the exacta in four of those, including Keeneland's other Grade 1 stakes race for turf females at the fall meeting, as stablemates Blowout and Regal Glory led home the field in the First Lady on Oct. 9. Less than two hours before Shantisara went postward, Fluffy Socks added to the barn's tally with a victory in the Grade 2 Sands Point at Belmont.
Shantisara ($7) also gave Brown sole possession of the training record in the Queen Elizabeth II with four victories, breaking a three-way tie with John Veitch and Jimmy Toner. Brown's other victories came with Dayatthespa in 2012; Rushing Fall in 2018; and Cambier Parc in 2019. Dayatthespa and Rushing Fall both went on to become Eclipse Award champions later in their careers.
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Shantisara, an Irish-born daughter of Coulsty, won twice from five starts while trained by Frederic Rossi in France. She came to the U.S. earlier this year, and has now won three of four outings on this continent for Brown and the ownership partnership of Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables, and Robert LaPenta. After finishing second in the Boiling Springs at Monmouth, she won the Grade 3 Pucker Up in August at Arlington Park. She then forged her way to a half-length victory in the Jockey Club Oaks Invitational on Sept. 18 at Belmont.
“She’s coming along, this filly,” Brown’s assistant Baldo Hernandez said. “She’s a real talent.”
Shantisara, with Flavien Prat in the irons, sat comfortably in third early, stalking two wide as Technical Analysis led favored Empress Josephine through an opening half-mile of 48.63 seconds.
“She broke well, and I was able to tuck her in right away,” said Prat, who has been aboard Shantisara for all three stakes wins. “She switched off nice, and was traveling super. When it was time to go, she was there.”
Shantisara ranged up around the far turn and had dead aim on her stablemate cutting the corner into the lane. She edged clear of Technical Analysis and produced a strong turn of foot when Prat really called upon her, powering clear to her final margin - which was a record margin for this race - while never seriously threatened.
The final time for the 1 1/8 miles was 1:48.86 on a turf course rated yielding following plenty of rain Friday afternoon into the overnight hours.
After Technical Analysis, it was 1 3/4 lengths back to Burning Ambition in third. The top three were followed, in order, by Nicest, Queen Goddess, Closing Remarks, Cloudy Dawn, Flippant, and Empress Josephine, who was wheeling back a week after finishing third behind the Brown duo in the First Lady.
Lady Speightspeare, the unbeaten winner of last year's Grade 1 Natalma Stakes, was a late scratch after an incident at the starting gate for what would have been her second start of the season. The filly jogged back to the paddock as the rest of the field was re-loaded into the gate.