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Never Retreat won't advance to BC; Together to wheel back in QEII Trainer Neil Pessin, who saddled Team Block's Never Retreat for trainer Chris Block while he was at Hawthorne Race Course to send out Giant Oak in the Grade 2 Hawthorne Gold Cup, said that the six-year-old mare came out of her Grade 1 First Lady victory in good shape. "That was the first Grade 1 win for the Blocks," Pessin said of the ownership of David, Patricia and Ryan Block. "Now we've got one more to go," Pessin added, referring to Team Block's Askbut I Won'ttell, who is here at Keeneland preparing for the Dowager at 1 1/2 miles on the turf to be run October 23. Pessin said that Never Retreat will not go to the Breeders' Cup. "She doesn't want to go a mile and three-eighths (the distance of the Filly & Mare Turf), and she doesn't want to run against the boys (in the Breeders' Cup Mile)," Pessin said. Trainer Graham Motion said that Daveron and Gypsy's Warning came out of their respective third- and sixth-place finishes in the First Lady in good order. "They both seem fine this morning," Motion said. "I thought Daveron ran well, but she did not like being down on the inside. But you can't take anything away from the winner (Never Retreat). She had to break from the outside and she had just run three weeks ago." Motion said that a Breeders' Cup run for either mare was unlikely. "They are both in the November (Breeding Stock) sale here and we have not really planned on it." Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith's Together, who rallied to finish second in the First Lady, will remain at Keeneland this week for a run in Saturday's 28th running of the Grade 1, $400,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup. "She ran very well yesterday and we hope she runs better next week," said T.J. Comerford, traveling head lad for trainer Aidan O'Brien. "She is going to stay here for the Queen Elizabeth." The Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup is for three-year-old fillies run at 1 1/8 miles on the turf whereas the First Lady was for fillies and mares three-years-old and up going a mile on the grass. Together has faced older rivals in her past three starts after posting runner-up finishes against three-year-old fillies in Group 1 company in Great Britain and Ireland. In other news regarding likely Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup starters, Motion said that Team Valor International's Summer Soiree is scheduled to work Monday morning at Fair Hill in Maryland and ship to Keeneland on Tuesday. Winter Memories, winner of the Grade 3 Appalachian here this spring in her 2011 debut is scheduled to ship to Keeneland from New York on Monday. Star Billing and Nereid, both trained by John Shirreffs who won last year's QE II with Harmonious, are scheduled to arrive from California on Tuesday. Other fillies invited to the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup are Marketing Mix, Kathmanblu and More Than Real. Entries for the race will be taken Wednesday.
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