Phileas Fogg found the off conditions much to his liking as he skipped over a sloppy track on his way to cruising to an eight-length, wire-to-wire romp in the Listed Queens County Stakes at Aqueduct on Sunday, 29 December.
The four-year-old gelding by Astern, who earned his first Stakes win in the nine-furlong Queens County, improved his record to seven wins and two second place finishes in 14 career starts. The victory also was the third straight win for Phileas Fogg. Completing the Stakes exacta was Curbstone, a five-year-old son of Street Sense.
Phileas Fogg broke like a rocket from the starting gate and was immediately sent to the lead by jockey Romero Maragh. Allowed to set a reasonable pace throughout, Phileas Fogg was never seriously threatened, skipping over the slop easily on his way to winning by eight lengths.
Phileas Fogg was bred in Kentucky by Godolphin and is out of Merino, by More Than Ready. Merino is a half-sister to Capezzano (by Bernardini), winner of the G1 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3, and hails from the immediate family of Champion Speightstown (G1) and G1 Preakness winner, Early Voting.
Winner of the 2016 G1 Golden Rose, Astern now has 14 individual Stakes winners of 25 Black Type races among his 227 winners. They include G1 winners Golden Mile and Affaire A Suivre, plus quality performers Aft Cabin, Seradess, Sail By and Parisal.
