A field of seven is expected to contest the Grade 1, $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes, which is only open to 3-year-olds which have been invited to participate. The late monarch attended the inaugural running of the race in 1984 and many of the winners have gone on to great accomplishments such as Rushing Fall in 2008, who earned nearly $3 million in her career.
Leading this year's field is McKulick (GB), one of two entrants from the barn of North American leading trainer Chad Brown. This filly has earned $1 million to date and enters the race off a win in the similar Grade 1 Jockey Club Oaks Invitational at Saratoga in September. Her stablemate is Gina Romantica, with a three for six career record including a runner-up effort in the Grade 3 Pebbles Stakes, also in September.
European import Paris Peacock (IRE) enters the race riding a two race winning streak including the Group 3 Denny Cordell Lavarack & Landwades Stud Stakes in Ireland on the same day McKulick (GB) won at Saratoga.
California Angel earned the biggest win of her career one year ago this week when posting the 17 to 1 upset in the Grade 2 Jessamine Stakes and she may be rounding back to top form following a third place effort in the Dueling Grounds Oaks last month.
Bellabel (IRE) ships in from California, having never been worse than second in three starts since coming over from her native Ireland, the most recent a runner-up effort in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks.
New Year's Eve won three of four races from her debut last December including the Grade 2 Edgewood Stakes in May but has fared no better than third in three starts since.
She's Gone rounds out the field off an allowance level win and is running in a stakes for the first time.
Analysis:
Paris Peacock (IRE) can post the mild upset over the very talented McKulick (GB) in this year's Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes. The filly had some hard luck to start her career when finishing second five times and third once in her first six races. Two races later the light bulb went on as she won in a field of 12 in August, then came a breakout performance on September 17 in the Lavarack & Landwades Stud Stakes. In that race, and among a field of 16, Paris Peacock (IRE) rallied from mid-pack and engaged the leader with a hundred or so yards to go, then slowly inched away at the end. She had shown the same kind of winning spirit one month earlier when beating 12 other horses and earning a 97 
Equibase® Speed Figure, improving to a new career-best 107 figure the next month. She's trained by Jessica Harrington. Many American racing fans may not be aware of who the trainer is, so I will share her record. In the last five seasons in Europe, Harrington's horses have won millions each season, including multiple Group 1 wins. In her career of over 13,000 starts she's saddled the winner or runner up in nearly one-third (4,100) of those races. Paris Peacock (IRE) gets the services of Florent Geroux, who is seventh among all jockeys in North America in 2022 with more than $13 million in earnings, so I expect Paris Peacock (IRE) to continue to improve enough and win this race.
McKulick (GB) has done little wrong in seven career starts, all in the U.S., even though she was bred in Great Britain. She's finished first or second in six of those seven, including five times in graded stakes. The best of those came in her most recent start in the Jockey Club Oaks Invitational, in which she made a quick move from fourth on the far turn to get the lead and won by a half-length at the end. That effort earned her a 111 figure. Prior to that, she earned a 107 figure when finishing second in the Saratoga Oaks Invitational, so she is certainly capable of taking another step forward and running even better. On the other hand, McKulick (GB) earned a 112 figure winning the Belmont Oaks Invitational in July so that effort and her last may be the best she can do while Paris Peacock (IRE) may have more improving to do off her most recent race. In any event, the battle between these two fillies could prove to be an exceptional one to witness.
California Angel won a turf route in her career debut 13 months ago, no easy feat in and of itself. Then, two races later, she won the Jessamine Stakes on the Keeneland turf course with a visually impressive effort as she rallied from 12th of 13 and eight paths wide turning for home, getting up by a head at the end. Last fall after the big win at Keeneland, California Angel wasn't disgraced a bit when only beaten four lengths in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. After poor tries on dirt she went back to turf for a fine runner-up effort in the LaCombe Memorial Stakes in March. Taking six months off following that effort, California Angel returned for a fine third of 11 finish in the Dueling Grounds Oaks last month, earning a new career-best 100 figure in the process. Likely to improve back on the Keeneland turf she proved to like last fall and likely to improve second off the layoff, California Angel might be considered a legitimate long shot contender in this field.
The rest of the field, with their best Equibase® Speed Figures, is Bellabel (IRE) (101), Gina Romantica (104), New Year's Eve (107) and She's Gone (96).
Top Win Contenders:
Paris Peacock (IRE)
McKulick (GB)
Other contender:
California Angel
Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes presented by Dixiana – Grade 1
Race 9 at Keeneland
Saturday, September 15 – Post Time 5:16 PM E.T.
One Mile and One Eighth on Turf
Fillies, Three Years Old
Purse: $600,000
The post Equibase Analysis: International Entrant Paris Peacock Poised To Capture QEII appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
