Twirling Queen prevails in the Senator Ken Maddy (Ernie Belmonte/Past The Wire)
Del Mar Press Release
DEL MAR, Calif.— GU Racing Stable’s Twirling Queen, the 3-2 betting choice under jockey Luis Saez, held on tenaciously in the final strides to win the $200,000 Ken Maddy Stakes at five furlongs over the Jimmy Durante Turf Course today at Del Mar.
Well placed in mid-pack in the early stages of the grass sprint, Twirling Queen advanced strongly entering the stretch to take command and then gamely resisted the challenge of Just Nails to score by a neck in a fast :56.42. Just Nail was two lengths in front of this third-place, with Kissed by Fire fourth in the field of seven fillies and mares.
Twirling Queen, a daughter of Twirling Candy trained by Jose Francisco D’Angelo, returned $5 to win after her sixth victory in ten starts. First prize was $120,000. The GU Racing Stable runner now has earnings of $499,438.
The Maddy Stakes launched the series of added money events on the first day of the two-day Breeders’ World Championships.
LUIS SAEZ (Twirling Queen, winner) — “It was a beautiful trip. That was the trip we were expecting. We knew the inside was the speed, and it came on the outside too, and we just picked the right horse to follow. When we came to the top of the stretch we had a lot of horse.”
JOSE D’ANGELO (Twirling Queen, winner) – “I was pointing her to this race to put her back on the turf. Last time she ran on the dirt trying to get a graded stakes. She’s a nice filly. She’s not big but she has a big heart. I’m very sure that next year she’s going to be in the best races of the country for fillies on the turf. I was waiting for the two fillies to go to the lead and she could sit and make her move. The trip was perfect and I’m very happy.”
FRACTIONS: :21.80 :44.85 :56.42
The stakes win was the first of the meet for jockey Saez and his first in the Ken Maddy. This was his first stakes win at Del Mar.
The stakes win was the first of the meet for trainer Jose D’Angelo and his first in the Ken Maddy. He, too, was winning his first stakes race at Del Mar.
The winning owner is GU Racing Stable.
