Queen’s Trust Nails Lady Eli at the Wire in a Record-Setting Performance

By Jordan Sigmon

In a race where all eyes were on the comebacking Lady Eli, it was the British filly Queen’s Trust who got up in the shadow of the wire in Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf (GIT) at Santa Anita. The finish had echoed the finish from Friday night’s Distaff with only inches separating the top two fillies at the wire.

Queen’s Trust came into the race with only a maiden win to her name, but she had twice been third in European group 1 races. But the daughter of Dansili had something going for her in her trainer, Sir Michael Stoute, who has previously trained the likes of Shergar, Royal Heroine and Singspiel, among others.

Queen’s Trust broke well and sat about 10 lengths off a very fast pace early under jockey Frankie Dettori. All the while, eventual third-place finisher Avenge was rolling up front through fractions of :23.10, :46.16 and 1:10.11 for the first three-quarters of a mile. After the leader went the mile in 1:34.12, Queen’s Trust had inched her way up to be just 4 ¾ lengths behind the leaders and soon after Lady Eli had taken the lead and started to draw off when Queen’s Trust unleashed one final furious rally to run her down in deep stretch and just get up in the shadow of the wire by a nose. Avenge was another length back in third and ¾ lengths ahead of fourth-place finisher Seventh Heaven.

The final time of 1:57.75 will go down as the fastest-ever running of the Filly and Mare Turf.

Frankie Dettori, who rode the Cheveley Park Stud-owned filly for the first time, gave all the credit to her trainer.

“Sir Michael Stoute is a genius, he was very sweet on this filly,” Dettori said. “Today, everything went perfect. It was a good trip; she found an extra gear the last 100 yards.”

When asked if his filly would be back next year to defend her title, Stoute said, “I hope so” before letting out a smile and a chuckle.

Lady Eli’s trainer, Chad Brown, could not have been more proud of his charge.

“She ran a terrific race, she just continues to amaze us with what she came back from, and she was just a little unlucky at the wire,” Brown said. “I think she’s just one of the all-time great fillies on the turf; they just don’t come back from something like this, let alone at this level. She ran her race; she did nothing wrong.”