Champion filly Questing retired

Godolphin Racing's

Questing,

who earned 2012 champion three-year-old filly honors at last month's Eclipse

Awards ceremony, has been retired. She had a minor chip successfully removed

from a hind ankle earlier this winter, but has developed a lingering case of

pneumonia while preparing for a return to training.

The daughter of Hard Spun won the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks and the

Grade 1 Alabama at Saratoga last season by a combined margin of 13 1/4 lengths.

Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin called Questing's nine length victory in the Alabama

"one of the most impressive performances I have ever witnessed." Her 1 1/4-mile

time of 2:01 1/5 was the fastest running of that race since 1990.

Following the Albama, Questing next finished second by a head in the Grade 1

Cotillion while giving the winner, My Miss Aurelia, seven pounds. In her final

start, the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic at Santa Anita, Questing was

away slowly from the gate and gradually lost contact with the field. She was

eventually pulled up and vanned off.

It was later discovered that Questing had suffered an eye injury before the

race or shortly after the start of the Ladies' Classic. The ankle chip that

necessitated her recent surgery was also found later.

Bred in England by Darley, Questing began her career in her homeland winning

on debut at Newbury. In her next two starts, she missed by a neck in both the

Group 3 Prestige at Goodwood and the Group 3 Oh So Sharp at Newmarket. She

concluded her juvenile campaign with a distant fifth-place effort behind My Miss

Aurelia in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Churchill Downs.

Unplaced in two grass allowances to begin her three-year-old season, Questing

preceded her Coaching Club American Oaks romp with a 3 3/4-length allowance win

at Belmont Park.

Questing is out of the dual-listed winning Seeking the Gold mare Chercheuse,

who concluded her time on track with a third in the C.E.R.F. Handicap at Del Mar

in 2003. Chercheuse is herself a daughter of the Storm Bird mare Sassy Bird, who

also produced Group 2-placed listed diva Asawer and is probably best known as a

full sister to Group 2-winning sire Mukaddamah. Another of Sassy Bird's siblings

is the granddam of multiple Grade 1 sprinter Switch.

Questing's fourth dam is noted Broodmare of the Year and 1966 Alabama queen

Natashka, and this black-type rich female line includes the likes of multiple

Group 1 stars, highweights and half-siblings Ezzoud and Distant Relative; Grade

3-winning top sire Elusive Quality; Group 1 Irish St Leger heroine Dark Lomond;

German and Italian champion Gold and Ivory; and Grade/Group 1 scorers Gregorian

and Capote Belle.

Questing will join the American broodmare band of Sheikh Mohammed, where she

is scheduled to visit Bernardini.

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