Expensive Queen, Segesta inseparable in Jenny Wiley dead-heat

Trainer Brendan Walsh had to scratch morning-line favorite Lush Lips from Saturday’s $581,713 Jenny Wiley (G1), but his other entrant, Expensive Queen, saved the day at Keeneland. Squeezing through on the inside for Luis Saez, she got up on the wire to force a dead-heat with Chad Brown’s favored Segesta.

Segesta gave Brown a record-extending eighth win in the Jenny Wiley. The homebred continued Juddmonte’s reign as the race’s most successful owner, with a total of five victories (including those for late proprietor Khalid Abdullah). 

Both Jenny Wiley heroines were coming off their biggest career wins, although they varied in significance. While Segesta was last seen landing an overdue Grade 1 in the Nov. 30 Matriarch (G1) at Del Mar, Expensive Queen just earned her first stakes victory in the Feb. 14 Albert M. Stall Memorial at Fair Grounds. 

Segesta’s accomplishments made her the 1.56-1 favorite once Lush Lips and another top contender, Destino d’Oro, scratched. The nearly 4 1/2-month layoff wasn’t a concern, considering her trainer’s flair for firing off the bench. Indeed, Brown just celebrated his 3000th win Friday courtesy of Zulu Kingdom, who snared the Maker’s Mark Mile (G1) off a much longer absence.

Jockey Flavien Prat was an integral part of Brown’s Grade 1 turf double, displaying his tactical sense in both races. In the Jenny Wiley, Prat had Segesta in the right place in a tracking second. Expensive Queen settled in a ground-saving spot just behind the pace.

As front-running Aussie Girl carved out splits of :23.10, :47.46, and 1:11.48, Segesta crept nearer until pouncing at the top of the lane. Expensive Queen, bottled up on the rail, needed room to rally. Her path to the outside was blocked by Medoro, who was looming to challenge. 

The opportunity came when Segesta cleared away from the tiring Aussie Girl. Saez pointed Expensive Queen to the seam, and she was game to take it and rally up the inside. 

Segesta now found herself besieged on both sides. Although she fended off Medoro, Expensive Queen drew alongside and appeared to have the momentum as they crossed the wire in unison. But Prat conjured just enough from Segesta for her to keep a share of the spoils. 

The duo clocked 1 1/16 miles on the firm course in 1:40.98. Segesta returned $2.84, and Expensive Queen, a market mover, paid $3.46 as the 2.91-1 second choice. 

Medoro checked in another three-quarters of a length astern in third. Dynamic Pricing, Brown’s other runner, closed for fourth to bookend the barn’s superfecta. Next came Pin Up Betty, Fast Market, Aussie Girl, and Deep Satin. 

Farfellow Farms’ Expensive Queen improved her record to 12-5-2-0, $382,616. Formerly a handicapper in England, the import is now 4-for-5 stateside. Her lone loss since joining Walsh was a fourth in last year’s Gamely (G1) at Santa Anita. 

“I was riding her pretty hard,” Saez recapped, “and she was giving me a good turn of foot. I know it was kind of tight there, but I just tried to look for the spot. We found the rail, and she made a huge move. I thought we were going to run on by, but the other filly (Segesta) – she’s a pretty good filly, and she came back – so that’s why we get the (dead) heat. I’m pretty excited about the way our filly ran.”

“Like Luis Saez said, she wasn’t in the ideal spot,” Walsh said. “Most of her races since she’s come here, she’s come outside and been more comfortable with it. They were down there (on the rail) nice and tight, but credit to Luis, he kept after her, and she responded to him, and we’re quite happy with the result. I was prepared for the worst, but listen, congratulations to the Knelmans (of Farfellow Farms) and all credit to my team.”

Segesta’s connections were likewise bracing for the result. 

“I thought I got beat,” Prat said. “She was traveling good. I thought I was in a good spot. Very good run turning for home, she stayed with the field, then she reengaged herself.”

“She looked a winner until about the sixteenth pole,” Juddmonte’s Garrett O’Rourke observed, “and then Flavien said he went to the outside to engage a filly (Medoro), and then the other filly (Expensive Queen) came up the inside. 

“When I saw it on the replay, I turned around and said, ‘I’ll take a dead-heat there.’ I meant I thought we were maybe out-nosed, and then when it flashed up on the screen, and it came up 1-10, I turned around and went, ‘Argh – we got beat,’ and then everyone said, ‘No, it’s a dead heat.’ So it’s up-and-down emotions.

“I’m delighted for the filly,” O’Rourke added. “She’s very deserving of it and had come so close in Grade 1s for so long. We did win a Grade 1 in the Matriarch, but we still got (the owner’s) agreement to keep her in training this year. That’s a risk to take with a filly like that. Straight out, credit to Chad for having her so ready to do this today. So very rewarding.”

Segesta has bankrolled $1,446,781 from her 12-5-4-0 line, reflecting graded victories in the 2024 Wonder Again (G2) and 2025 Matchmaker (G3). Her placings include the Belmont Oaks (G1) as well as last season’s Ladies Turf (G1) at Kentucky Downs and a near-miss in Keeneland’s First Lady (G1).

Kentucky-bred Segesta is a daughter of Hall of Famer Ghostzapper and Antonoe, who scored her signature win in the 2017 Just a Game (G1). The First Defence mare is also responsible for last year’s Hollywood Derby (G1) star Salamis, the first half of her memorable Del Mar Turf Festival double completed by Segesta in the Matriarch. 

Irish-bred Expensive Queen can boast of several notable full siblings, including multiple Group 3 scorer Antonia de Vega, Group 2-placed Al Haarith, and stakes-placed Luckin Brew. All are by Lope de Vega and out of the multiple stakes-placed Witches Brew, herself a Duke of Marmalade half-sister to Group 1 victor Al Wukair.