NYRA Press Office
OZONE PARK, N.Y.— Trainer Bobby Ribaudo believes the best has yet to be seen from Marc Keller’s homebred Quarrel, who will stretch out to 1 3/8 miles for Saturday’s Grade 3, $350,000 Fasig-Tipton Jockey Club Oaks Invitational for sophomore fillies over the inner turf at Belmont at the Big A.
The Speightstown chestnut was last seen posting a gate-to-wire allowance score against elders on September 1 going 1 1/16 miles over a good Saratoga Race Course inner turf. She held a three-length lead at the stretch call with stakes-placed Swoop to Finish launching a late surge in the final furlong, but held on to win by one length while recording a career-best 79 Beyer Speed Figure.
Quarrel broke her maiden at third asking going 1 1/16 miles in November at Aqueduct after making her first two starts in off-the-turf maiden events going six furlongs at Belmont at the Big A. She made her graded stakes debut in her first start of the season when fourth beaten five lengths in Belmont’s Grade 3 Soaring Softly in May going seven furlongs before stretching back out to 1 1/16 miles and finishing a close fifth in allowance company at the same oval. She made her Saratoga debut when contesting an off-the-turf allowance optional claimer going one mile, where she finished a distant third as the favorite.
“Earlier in the year, we had a hard time finding spots for her. We started off in a 3-year-old stakes for fillies going seven-eighths and then we ran back in the allowance race going short,” Ribaudo recalled. “She came to Saratoga doing really well. We entered for the first week and it came off the turf. We ran anyway, she ran a dismal race. We finally got her in a 3-year-olds and up allowance race. We put the blinkers on her in her first race at Saratoga, but we didn’t get to see the best of her because it was off the turf. We waited for the next one – off the turf. We scratched out of that one. She impressed me in the race on the grass so, in reality, I don’t think we’ve seen the best of her yet. Next year, I think she’ll be better. The race at Saratoga puts me in a good spot, I think.”
Ribaudo considered today’s Winter Memories for Quarrel, but ultimately decided to take a shot in the Jockey Club Oaks, where she will face European shipper and odds-on morning line favorite Eternal Hope.
Quarrel is a half-sister to Daunt, who defeated winners going the Jockey Club Oaks distance in October at Belmont at the Big A and finished fourth in this summer’s Grade 2 Bowling Green on July 30 and the Grade 1 Resorts World Casino Sword Dancer on August 26, both at Saratoga. Both Quarrel and Daunt are out of the graded stakes-placed Artie Schiller mare Promotional.
Ribaudo said Quarrel’s pedigree gives him confidence that the Jockey Club Oaks distance will not be out of reach.
“We looked at the Winter Memories and it overfilled so we didn’t go in. We knew the top couple that were going in this race and my options were the two-other than allowance race for three and up, which isn’t an easy race. So, we figured before the year is out, we needed to run one or two more times,” Ribaudo said. “We had a choice between a few 3-year-old filly stakes coming up and this wasn’t one of the ones we were thinking about. But the race came up a little light and she’s a half-sister to Daunt, the mother was a mile and three eighths and mile and a half specialist. Her numbers are pretty much on par with the rest of the field, she’s doing well and she came out of her last race really well.”
Ribaudo said Quarrel appears to be following a similar trajectory as her older half-brother.
“In the fall, Daunt won an allowance race and just got beat in the Red Smith. He’s been a nice horse this year for us and I think this filly is on the same path,” said Ribaudo. “The mother didn’t get started until the middle of her 3-year-old season and had a better year as a 4-year-old. Speightstown progeny usually take a year or two more than the average horse to come around to their prime. Both are very sound horses.”
Ribaudo said Daunt, a 4-year-old son of Nyquist, is pointing towards a return to the Grade 2, $300,000 Red Smith on November 11 at Aqueduct. He finished fourth at 68-1 odds in last year’s running of the 1 3/8-mile test.
“He’ll run in an allowance with the Red Smith being the goal again. I still think at five and six, he can be a really good horse,” Ribaudo said. “You see these turf races with horses eight and nine years old running at top form. I’ve had some good grass horses earlier on that if they stay sound, they can run forever. He’ll be five next year and he may just be getting to his full prime. We won’t overdo it, but we’ll give him a couple more starts next year and come back. Hopefully, this filly can follow in his footsteps.”
