Expert Pick of the Week: 2024 Queen Stakes

Mar 13, 2024 John Mucciolo/TwinSpires.com

An overflow field of 13 fillies and mares will travel six panels on the Tapeta at Turfway Park in Saturday’s $125,000 Queen S. The full group of ladies features a field with an abundance of early pace and I expect the winner to be making one run from well off the tempo in the feature.

Honey Pants flaunted her big closing rush with an upset victory in the Las Cienegas S. (G3) on the Santa Anita Hillside turf course in her latest endeavor and ships in for her local debut. By Cairo Prince, the gray was second best in her lone prior run on an all-weather surface, and I expect her to handle Turfway with ease.

The Kentucky-bred will be making her first start since being transferred to conditioner Jonathan Thomas, and the six-year-old has posted four solid morning works on the oval to acclimate to her new surroundings. Honey Pants did not benefit from drawing widest of all in the heat, but she has enough early foot to secure a sensible trip in the early stages of the dash. Luan Machado, one of the top pilots at this venue, will be in the irons.

#5 B G Warrior takes R4 at Kentucky Downs under Joseph Ramos for trainer Ronald Kahles! 🍀

🎥 #TwinSpiresReplay pic.twitter.com/7R6ojQIcAA

— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) September 2, 2023

The Hugo Andrade-trained B G Warrior is the speed of the speed and ran the best race of her lifetime when dusting her foes at every call in the recent Wishing Well S. on the strip. The Run Away and Hide filly is super swift from the gate and can clearly carry her speed at least this far. The dark bay four-year-old will be especially dangerous if she clears the field from the start beneath Albin Jimenez.

A sneaky exotics player in the event is Linguistic for conditioner Eric Foster. By Flatter, the five-year-old made her first local run in February and closed late for an encouraging second in an allowance heat. The Kentucky-bred has yet to achieve stakes glory to this stage of her development, but she handled the synthetic well last time out and will improve while making her second run since October. The late runner will have Fernando de la Cruz in the silks.

Expert Pick

An exacta with #12 Honey Pants on top of #6 B G Warrior and #4 Linguistic in the Wishing Well Stakes is the Best Bet of the Week.