Classic Q can’t be caught in Just a Game

After turning a Grade 1 double Friday with champion Nitrogen and Counting Stars, dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse made it a hat trick with Classic Q in Saturday’s $500,000 Just a Game (G1) at Saratoga. 

Classic Q used her early speed to maximum effect, just as she did last time out in the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (G2) on Kentucky Derby Day. Her form was boosted when the Turf Mile runner-up, Portfolio Duration, came back to capture Friday’s New York (G1).

Nevertheless, Classic Q was let go as the 6.22-1 fourth choice, for a few reasons. Her pace scenario didn’t appear as cozy on paper. Trainer Chad Brown, who won this race for the past four years and eight times overall, had a dynamic duo in 1.94-1 favorite Segesta and Sandtrap. And Francis-Henri Graffard’s Mandanaba brought a high level of form from France, like stablemate Cankoura, who just missed in the New York. 

Yet Classic Q delivered another front-running victory with Hall of Famer John Velazquez. Breaking alertly on the rail, she was flanked by Segesta early, until the clubhouse turn clarified matters. Classic Q’s ground-saving trip helped her inch clear, and Segesta settled into a stalking second. 

Classic Q posted fractions of :23.62, :47.17, and 1:10.09 and spurted away into the stretch. Segesta, unable to match her wicked seventh furlong in :11.18, suddenly found herself about 1 1/2 lengths back.

The only potential threat was Mandanaba. Off a beat slow and hustled into third early, she briefly lacked room to maneuver when Segesta held her in at the top of the lane. Mandanaba muscled her way through, but she could not accelerate enough to bridge the gap.

Classic Q crossed the wire with 1 1/4 lengths to spare and returned $14.44. Her final time for the mile on the firm inner turf, 1:32.84, was a few ticks off Got Stormy’s course mark of 1:32. Got Stormy, herself a Casse trainee, set the record when defeating males in the 2019 Fourstardave H. (G1). 

Mandanaba was second-best by a half-length from Segesta. Next came Deep Satin, And One More Time (another Casse runner), Sandtrap, Fast Market, and Buttercream Babe.

Owned by Gary Barber, Blue Cravalle Racing, and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Classic Q has compiled a record of 15-5-3-1, $1,349,865. The gray scored her first stakes win at the course and distance in the Wild Applause S. last summer, and she was just caught next time in the Lake George (G3). Classic Q added placings in the Valley View (G2) at Keeneland, the Mrs. Revere (G2) at Churchill Downs, and the Honey Fox (G3) at Gulfstream Park before her graded breakthrough in the Distaff Turf Mile. 

Classic Q was bred by Winning Bloodstock in Kentucky and sold for $40,000 as a Keeneland September yearling. By Casse’s 2016 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) champion Classic Empire, she is out of the Scat Daddy mare Lovely Em. 

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