QUEST Not Yet Finished for Juvy Turf Filly Winner!

This pretty chestnut filly ran her best race at just the right time. That, of course is a huge credit to trainer Battler and as well to jockey J.Caves. The RAINBOW QUEST out of broodmare NOBLE PRINCESS filly showed that she was more than ready for the big time. She was brought along slowly as this was only her sixth race and only her second Stakes but she came in with a three race win streak which she has extended. She has never finished worse than second in any of her races and has improved every time out capped by her 90 SPF in this race. I warned you about this filly in my preview stating that she may be ready to shock the world then didn’t heed my own warning in my race tickets. She increased her earnings to just under three quarters of a million dollars and improved to the number three ranking in turf for all the longer distances.

I caught up to trainer/owner Battler in the stables last week and asked him about his filly and who he thought would win. Without hesitation, he stated, “Why Urban Quest of course!!!! Honestly, I don’t really know. I’ve had a look at the other runners and there are a lot of chances in the race. I do think my filly will run well. She has come up sharp for the race and has been set towards it since beating the boys in her stakes debut. The distance won’t be an issue at all and she has shown steady improvement at each run which is promising as she will have to improve again to be in the finish in such a quality field. She tends to race just off the speed and has been strong at the finish of all her races to date. I can see her positioning just off the pace again and she may very well look a chance on the turn. It’s then just a matter of whether she is up to this class. Having said that, she deserves her shot and I’m quietly confident of her running a big race.” It sounds like he hit it spot on as that is just what happened in the race.

There was also an incredibly courageous race run by LIGHTSEEKER. The NORTH LIGHT filly jumped out to the early lead side by side with MADAM ALLY. They battled back and forth until LIGHTSEEKER took the lead at the half but was quickly passed by our winner. She was caught in the stretch by DAHLIYEV, but was able to hold off a hard charging VY THE QUARTERBACK and fought both tooth and nail only to finish third by a fraction. The second place finisher had her own story among the many stories in this race. DAHLIYEV was well back and moved well through the field and finished strong at the finish. She doesn’t have quite as much experience as most of the horses in this race and looks ready to take off in her career. Keep an eye on this one. VY THE QUARTERBACK who was just ahead of BUDA FOR A DAY and CASTLE BLACK is another one to watch with a furious finish that needed a bit more distance.

There were some hearts broken in this race as well. BRABASONG came up ready to go and never really showed her talent. KEVORKIAN AVENGER was very disappointing in the race finishing 14th and was never in it after starting out as one of the favorites. She had never finished lower than second in a race before including two Graded races. There was talk of some sort of injury after the race though nothing was verified. These horses are well bred with lots of heart and will be back to win again.

Sometime late tomorrow, after tonight’s parties have finally wound down and he has gotten a couple of hours of sleep, URBAN QUEST’s trainer Battler will finally realize the enormity of what has happened and the planning and responsibility of taking a Superstar filly to the next couple of races. He will also plan on being at a certain track in Kentucky come May. Best of luck to all of these fine two year olds.

Good luck to all runners!