Strong Quality made his return to the grass a success as he
picked up his first black-type victory in the Colonel E. R. Bradley
S. at the Fair Grounds.
The dark bay switched to the turf last spring against optional
claimers and won at Gulfstream Park, then repeated the feat
against allowance types at Keeneland. Well-beaten in the GI
Manhattan S. at Belmont Park and in the GI Arlington Million at
Colonial Downs, the Mark Casse trainee was fourth in the Tapit
S. at Kentucky Downs before winning an off-the-turf optional
claiming race at Churchill Downs Nov. 18.
Last seen finishing third in the Tinsel S. at Oaklawn Park Dec.
16, the son of Quality Road went off as the 4-5 choice here.
Handed an easy lead passing the grandstand and into the first
turn, Strong Quality controlled the pace up the backstretch. The
5-year-old began to let out the throttle at the quarter pole and
he had just enough left in the tank to find the wire over
Beatbox.
The winner’s dam is responsible for a 2-year-old colt by
Constitution and a yearling colt by Maxfield. She visited City of
Light for this season. Second dam GSW Sweet Fervor (Seeking
the Gold) produced the dam of full-siblings by Quality Road–
MSW Top Quality and SW Boston Post Road. Click for the
Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
COLONEL E. R. BRADLEY S., $97,000, Fair Grounds, 1-20,
4yo/up, 1 1/16mT, 1:42.05, fm.
1–STRONG QUALITY, 118, h, 5, Quality Road–Tiz So Sweet (SP,
$211,100), by Tiznow. ($500,000 Wlg ’19 FTKNOV). 1ST BLACK
TYPE WIN. O-Gary Barber and Kinsman Stable; B-Kinsman
Farm (KY); T-Mark E. Casse; J-Florent Geroux. $60,000.
Lifetime Record: 16-5-4-3, $473,545.
2–Beatbox, 118, h, 6, Pioneerof the Nile–Magical World, by
Distorted Humor. ($2,100,000 Ylg ’19 KEESEP; $70,000 3yo ’21
KEENOV). O-Rob Comestro and Jeff Ganje; B-Three Chimneys
Farm, LLC (KY); T-Cherie DeVaux. $20,000.
3–Rising Empire, 118, h, 6, Empire Maker–Smart Farming, by
Smart Strike. ($275,000 Ylg ’19 KEESEP; $700,000 2yo ’20
OBSAPR). O-Russell Welch and Ran M. Leonard; B-Gainesway
Thoroughbreds Ltd. (KY); T-Brendan P. Walsh. $10,000.
Margins: HD, 6, 1 1/4. Odds: 0.90, 1.80, 5.10.
Also Ran: Duke of Carthania, English Tavern, Protonic Power.
Scratched: Brigadier General, Leave It to Kitten, Who Took the
Money.
