Super Quick points to Fleur de Lis Stakes
BALTIMORE – Super Quick, who crushed her foes by 14 1/4 lengths in the Grade 3, $150,000 Allaire duPont Distaff on Friday at Pimlico, will attempt to keep rolling off that career-best performance as she will next target the Grade 2, $350,000 Fleur de Lis Stakes on July 2 at Churchill Downs.
"That was kind of the goal going into” Friday, trainer Norm Casse said. "We were hoping she would run well, and then we could point her to something like that."
The Fleur de Lis, a Win and You're In automatic qualifier for this year's Breeders' Cup Distaff at Keeneland, has been won in the past two years by Midnight Bisou (2020) and Letruska (2021), both of whom went on to claim the divisional Eclipse Award. It also has been won in recent years by subsequent or reigning champions Forever Unbridled (2017), Royal Delta (2012), and Rachel Alexandra (2010).
Super Quick earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 107 for a performance that flirted with Pimlico records. She stopped the clock in 1:47.78 for the 1 1/8 miles on a fast main track. The Pimlico track record of 1:47.20 was established by Private Terms in 1989, while the stakes record for the duPont's current distance is 1:47.64, set by Mylady Curlin in 2019.
Super Quick, by Super Saver, races as a homebred for the family stables of the late Marylou Whitney, the beloved socialite, philanthropist, and owner-breeder who died in 2019 at age 93. Casse said he takes extreme pride in campaigning the Whitney horses, managed by Whitney's husband, John Hendrickson. He also noted that he has his own ironic story regarding the Whitney colors.
"My family is in horse racing, but I didn't fall in love with horse racing until Smarty Jones," said Casse, the son and former assistant of Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse and the grandson of legendary Florida horseman Norman Casse. "The day that Birdstone beat him in the Belmont was like the worst day of my life up to that point. And now I just find in incredibly surreal that I get to represent those colors in the afternoons."