Dayatthespa cruises in Queen Elizabeth II Challenge

• Dayatthespa led from start to finish to win the Queen Elizabeth Challenge Cup
• Dayatthespa staked her claim as the best 3-year-old turf filly in America
• Dayatthespa covered the final eighth-mile in 11.43 seconds

LEXINGTON, Ky. — At the beginning of the year, trainer Chad Brown thought Dayatthespa had a chance to be America's best 3-year-old turf filly. Saturday before the crowd of 28,337 jammed into Keeneland, she looked like just that, leading all the way to beat Centre Court by 2 lengths in the $400,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup.

Dayatthespa missed her division's graded stakes this summer at Saratoga and Belmont after being sidelined four months with hind-end soreness that developed after she won Keeneland's Grade III Appalachian in April.

Brown said he told her owners: "Look, there's some initial disappointment. But trust me, this filly is a keeper. She is a career horse. Not a horse where we have to get what we can, running her against her own age. She's a horse who is going to be good from 2 to 5, if we take care of her.

"They all listened, and they were all rewarded today."

Sure, the New York-bred chestnut daughter of City Zip was allowed to reel off slow fractions under jockey Javier Castellano. But Dayatthespa, who is 5-for-5 this year, also has won coming from far off the pace and pressing the pace.

Once Dayatthespa strode three-quarters of a mile in a dawdling 1:13.96, she flew home, covering the final three-eighths in 35.03 seconds and the final eighth-mile in 11.43 to finish 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.99. She paid $8.60 to win as the second choice.

"I handicapped the race, and I didn't see a lot of speed," Castellano said. "... I thought the pace was going to be moderate, and I took advantage. My filly, she's really quick out of the gate. At the quarter pole, I asked her a little bit and she responded. When she took off, I just let her go — hand ride."

Rusty Arnold, trainer of Centre Court, was in position to extend one of the most remarkable streaks in racing, where he's won at least one race every Keeneland meet since 1986, with the exception of one meet in the 1980s when he didn't have a starter.

Grade II Lake Placid winner Centre Court, ridden by Julien Leparoux, ranged up from third to pull within a length of Dayatthespa in mid-stretch but could gain no further ground.

"I was where I wanted to be the whole time," Arnold said, adding that Dayatthespa "came home the last eighth in 11 and a couple, going a mile and an eighth. It's hard to beat a horse who does that when they go in 49. It's hard to pass one. No excuse. She ran hard, ran well. Just second-best today. We beat some that are hard to beat."

Better Lucky, who was closest in pursuit early on with jockey Shaun Bridgmohan, was another half-length back, nosing out the Brown-trained Garden City winner Samitar for third. Favored Stephanie's Kitten — who won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf last year and Saratoga's Grade II Lake Placid in her last start — finished sixth.

The field of eight was dominated by fillies who had taken turns beating each other in New York's graded stakes. Brown said that, looking to start Dayatthespa back at Saratoga, it made more sense to run her in the $100,000 Riskaverse at a mile instead of the Grade II stakes at Saratoga or Belmont's Grade I Garden City.

"I wasn't ducking any of these 3-year-old fillies," Brown said after winning his fourth graded stakes on turf in a week. "She's the best 3-year-old turf filly in the country. She proved it today."

Dayatthespa showed her talent early on, defeating Stephanie's Kitten when second in Woodbine's Natalma stakes last fall in her second career start. She was ninth — losing by a total of 5½ lengths — in the Juvenile Fillies Turf, which her connections attribute to off turf. She's now earned $574,392 for Jerry Frankel, Ronald Frankel, Steve Laymon and Bradley Thoroughbreds.

Co-owner Peter Bradley of Lawrenceburg, Ky., quipped that when he saw the soft early fractions, "my stomach stopped churning."

"Chad has done an exception job taking his time with her," he continued. "She's just one of those special horses that don't come along very often. She not only has speed, but she has a kick at the end."

Brown said the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf is highly unlikely, but he did not discount a California trip to take on older fillies in Hollywood Park's Grade I Matriarch later in the fall.

"We don't mind testing her boundaries a little bit when she's doing well," he said. "But I also don't want to make a mistake and set her backward."