Anaconda strikes and scores in the Elusive Quality under Kendrick Carmouche (Chelsea Durand)
NYRA Press Office
ELMONT, N.Y.— Three Diamonds Farm’s Anaconda earned his first stakes conquest Saturday with an off-the-pace victory in the $150,000 Elusive Quality, a seven-furlong Widener turf sprint for older horses, at Belmont Park.
Trained by Joe Sharp and ridden to victory by Kendrick Carmouche, Anaconda entered the Elusive Quality with two stakes placings on his resume and broke through with a career-best performance when closing from seventh-of-9 and overcoming traffic troubles down the backstretch to fly home late and collar Yes and Yes by a nose at the wire. He completed the course in 1:21.94 and earned a 98 Beyer Speed Figure.
“He’s doing well today,” said Sharp’s Belmont Park assistant Lorita Lindemann. “He ate up his breakfast and walked good. He’s feeling good.”
The 6-year-old son of Pioneerof the Nile entered the Elusive Quality from a narrow loss to Big Everest in the one-mile Danger’s Hour on April 15 at Aqueduct Racetrack. His other stakes placing was a second in the six-furlong Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship. The Elusive Quality marked his third win since joining the Sharp barn in July at Saratoga Race Course and his first win since an optional claiming coup in November at Laurel Park.
Bred by Hargus Sexton, Sandra Sexton, Silver Fern Farm and WinStar Farm, Anaconda is out of the stakes-placed Medaglia d’Oro mare Lawn Party and is a half-brother to 2018 Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf third-place finisher Stellar Agent. He has banked $385,610 in earnings through a record of 16-5-2-2.
