Trainer Chad Brown and owner Peter Brant finished 1-2 in this multi-conditioned allowance turf race, though perhaps not in the order they thought they would.
Fifty Five, a New York-bred son of Get Stormy, rallied down the center of the yielding turf course to nip Quidura by a head in this $85,000 allowace race going a mile. Sent off at 1-5 as part of the entry, Fifty Five returned $2.60 to win.
Fifty Five, ridden by Javier Castellano, won for the first time since taking last year's Ticonderoga Stakes for New York breds here. She had finished second in her first two starts this year. Could see her headed to the Yaddo for New York breds at Saratoga on Aug. 24.
Quidura, beaten a head in last year's Grade 1 Diana at the Spa when trained by Graham Motion, was making her first start since she ran sixth in last October's E.P. Taylor at Woodbine. Brant purchased her for $3.6 million at last November's Fasig-Tipton auction. Quidura, who won the Grade Canadian last September at Woodbine, set all the pace Sunday and ran pretty well but could not hold off her stablemate.
In the morning, Brown said he was using this race as a prep for Quidura to the Grade 1 Beverly D at Arlington on Aug. 11. Don't see why wouldn't continue with that plan.
Meanwhile, those were the last two runners of the meet for Brown. He finished with a meet-leading 34 wins from 156 starters. He will now head to Saratoga to try and reclaim the Saratoga trainer's title he lost to trainer Todd Pletcher last year. Brown won the 2016 Saratoga crown.