Expensive Queen and Segesta noses apart in the Jenny Wiley, Jenny Doyle/Past The Wire Photo
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Keeneland Press
Farfellow Farms’ Expensive Queen (IRE) and Juddmonte’s homebred Segesta hit the finish line together to produce a dead heat in the 38th running of the $650,000 Jenny Wiley (G1) for fillies and mares Saturday afternoon at Keeneland.
It was the sixth stakes dead heat in Keeneland history and second in a Grade 1 with the other coming in 2014 in the Central Bank Ashland with Room Service and Rosalind.
In the race following the Jenny Wiley, Midway Racing’s Trendsetter won the 44th running of the $400,000 Stonestreet Lexington (G3) for 3-year-olds.
In the Jenny Wiley, Aussie Girl (IRE) led the field of eight through fractions of :23.10, :47.46 and 1:11.48 with Segesta sitting in second and Expensive Queen getting a ground-saving trip a couple lengths in back of the leaders.
Segesta put the pressure on Aussie Girl at the top of the stretch and moved to the front at the three-sixteenths pole with Expensive Queen maintaining her inside position and Medoro ranging up on the outside of Segesta.
Segesta inched clear of Medoro at the sixteenth pole only to be joined by Expensive Queen and setting up the duel to the wire.
Time for the 1 1/16 miles over a firm turf course was 1:40.98.
Luis Saez rode Expensive Queen for trainer Brendan Walsh and notched his second victory in the race with his initial score coming last year on Choisya (GB).
Flavien Prat earned his first Jenny Wiley victory on Segesta and gave trainer Chad Brown his eighth triumph in the race. Brown’s other winners were Ball Dancing (2015), Sistercharlie (IRE) (2018), Rushing Fall (2019-2020), Regal Glory (2022), In Italian (GB) (2023) and Beaute Cachee (FR) (2024).
Expensive Queen is a 5-year-old daughter of Lope de Vega out of the Duke of Marmalade (IRE) mare Witches Brew. After racing seven times in England, she has won four of five starts in the U.S. and improved her overall record to 12-5-2-0 and earnings to $382,616.
Segesta is a 5-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of Ghostzapper out of the First Defence mare Antonoe. Now a two-time Grade 1 winner, Segesta improved her record to 12-5-4-0 and earnings to $1,446,781.
Expensive Queen returned mutuels of $3.46, $3.84 and $3.06 as the second choice. Favored Segesta returned $2.84, $2.90 and $2.44 with Medoro finishing three-quarters of a length back in third and paying $3.94 to show under Juan Hernandez.
It was another half-length back to Dynamic Pricing (IRE) with Pin Up Betty, Fast Market, Aussie Girl and Deep Satin following in order.
Trendsetter posts 32-1 upset in Stonestreet Lexington
In the Stonestreet Lexington, Trendsetter swept past dueling leaders Corona de Oro and The Hell We Did at the eighth pole and drew off for a 2¼-length victory.
Trained by Ben Colebrook and ridden by Kazushi Kimura, Trendsetter covered the 1 1/16 miles on a fast main track in 1:44.51. The victory was the first for Kimura in a Keeneland stakes.
Corona de Oro hustled to the lead from the inside post and led the field through fractions of :23.68, :47.92 and 1:12.12 with The Hell We Did in closest pursuit and Trendsetter tracking in the second flight with favored Confessional and Ezum.
At the top of the stretch, Kimura put Trendsetter in the three path and quickly disposed of the leaders.
Trendsetter to the front at 32-1 in the Lexington, Jenny Doyle/Past The Wire Photo
A Keeneland sales graduate, Trendsetter is a Kentucky-bred son of Modernist out of the Astrology mare Suyapa. In winning his graded stakes debut, Trendsetter improved his record to 8-3-1-1 and hiked his earnings to $421,962.
Trendsetter rewarded his backers with payoffs of $66.68, $19.12 and $7.80. The Hell We Did returned $7.38 and $5.12 under Luis Saez and finished three-quarters of a length in front of Corona de Oro, who paid $3.36 to show under Brian Hernandez Jr.
It was another 4 lengths back to I Did I Did with Confessional, Ezum, Mister T, Ramblin and Exhibition Only following in order.
