LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Queen Maxima ran out a four-race California winning streak between December and April. She left the West Coast for the first time, took her entourage to Kentucky for the Unbridled Sidney Stakes, and still reigned supreme.
Travelling smoothly around the turn while stalking the pace, sidling into contention at the quarter pole, Queen Maxima roared to the lead at the furlong grounds and ran away to a 3 1/2-length victory Friday at Churchill Downs in the Grade 3, $400,000 Unbridled Sidney, a turf sprint for older fillies and mares.
When Queen Maxima won her debut this past August at Del Mar, trainer Jeff Mullins felt like he’d unleashed a future stakes horse. Queen Maxima then lost three in a row, Mullins saying that riders were taking too much away from the filly in the early stages of her races, not letting the filly express the full breadth of her talent.
“They didn’t realize how much horse they had. They’d always have her in too much trouble,” Mullins said. “This horse has gears.”
Juan Hernandez took over as Queen Maxima’s jockey. The pair has not lost yet.
Breaking from the outside post, Queen Maxima didn’t jump very sharply and settled into fourth running down the backstretch. Epona’s Hope, a pure speed horse, took the lead, but challenging her on the inside, racing in a tight quarters, came favored Ag Bullet. Ag Bullet has plenty of pace in longer races, but in her most recent short sprint, the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, she settled into sixth before finishing strongly for third. Through an opening quarter in 21.76, Ag Bullet never got comfortable, but Queen Maxima did.
“I just dropped inside to save a little ground, and then, after that, she was travelling beautiful,” Hernandez said.
Epona’s Hope cut the corner on the lead, Crown Imperial edging up to her outside, Umberto Rispoli on Ag Bullet trying to find room to run. Epona’s Hope drifted off the fence, Rispoli made a bid for the spot along the rail, and Ag Bullet did not get through, checking just as Queen Maxima hit full stride on the outside. Already rolling, the filly came forward again, Hernandez said, when he switched his crop, and no one got close to her.
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Crown Imperial edge Epona’s Hope for second, with Ag Bullet, unable to find room again after regaining her stride, finishing seventh. Churchill stewards might have looked at Ag Bullet’s stretch trouble but posted no inquiry, nor did her jockey claim foul.
A third course record fell Friday, Queen Maxima clocking 1:01.29 for 5 1/2 furlongs, surpassing Bad Beat Brian’s mark of 1:01.50 from October 2023. A storm passed through Churchill between the Eight Belles and the Unbridled Sidney and Churchill downgraded the course rating from firm to good, but clearly, the rain did nothing to alter the speed of the track.
Queen Maxima was assigned a Beyer Speed Figure of 97 for the win.
A Florida-bred, the 4-year-old filly is by Bucchero out of Corfu Lady, by Corfu, and she races for Dutch Girl Holdings and Irving Ventures. She now is 6-2-0 from nine starts and won her second straight Grade 3 race, and Mullins, as any trainer with a sharp turf sprinter would too, has his eye on the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. That’s in November. The filly returns to California in a couple days. Queen Mazima came to Kentucky, she saw, and she conquered.
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