Luster Set to Sparkle in QEII After King’s Plate Romp

Gainesway Stable and Andrew Rosen celebrated a grade 1 victory last week when the Brendan Walsh-trained 2-year-old filly Emphatic captured the Oct. 2 Alcibiades Stakes (G1) on opening day of the fall meet at Keeneland. Eight days later, they're pursuing another prestigious Keeneland score when King's Plate winner Luster represents the owners and Canadian trainer Josie Carroll in the $750,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1T). She faces the top three finishers from the Del Mar Oaks (G1T) and seven other 3-year-old fillies in the 1 1/8-mile turf test. Although Luster has made her recent starts on Woodbine's Tapeta surface, including an authoritative 7 1/4-length victory over Canada's leading 3-year-olds in this summer's 1 1/4-mile King's Plate Aug. 15, she has been similarly effective on turf, winning both of her grass starts. She earned her maiden on yielding turf at Woodbine last summer before returning to Keeneland in the spring and rolling to a 5-length victory against first-level allowance rivals on firm ground. The gray or roan daughter of Knicks Go then went north to Woodbine and finished third in the Ruling Angel Stakes before reeling off three consecutive stakes victories, capped by her runaway King's Plate triumph over males. Rather than pursue the remaining legs of the Canadian Triple Crown, her connections gave her a brief freshening and targeted the QEII, one of the premier races in North America for 3-year-old turf fillies. Military Time and Fire and Wine, males who finished second and third, respectively, behind Luster in the King's Plate, subsequently captured the other two legs of the Canadian Triple Crown, the Prince of Wales Stakes and Breeders' Stakes. Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez, a six-time QEII winner, returns aboard Luster. Among her chief challengers is Rigney Racing's Tam Tam, who arrives off a victory at the QEII's 1 1/8-mile distance in the Del Mar Oaks. Shipped west from Kentucky, the Phil Bauer trainee tracked pacesetter Kensington Lane (IRE), winner of the Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes (G1T), before taking command in midstretch. She then held off a late charge from runner-up Lookin At Diamond to prevail. The Medaglia d'Oro filly, who breaks immediately outside Luster from post 3, brings a 4-for-9 record and $648,800 in earnings into the race. Junior Alvarado, who has ridden her for her past five starts, retains the mount. Faithful Departed, trained by Grant Forster for owners Frank Ferrogine, Richard Rendina, Nick Coniglio, and Greywood Farms, also merits consideration. She defeated Tam Tam in the Regret Stakes (G3T) before finishing second in the Belmont Oaks Invitational and Saratoga Oaks Invitational Stakes (G2T). Klaravich Stables' Deep Learning, winner of the Lake Placid Stakes (G2T), gives five-time QEII-winning trainer Chad Brown another contender. Alain Jathiere's French stakes winner Braida (FR), meanwhile, arrives with three wins in five starts for trainer Francis-Henri Graffard.