Truly Quality Travels Well in Hollywood Turf Cup

Truly Quality goes the distance, in both his races and traveling from track to track. At his 11th racetrack in 13 starts and adding to his reputation as a marathoner, the 4-year-old gelding wrested momentum away from Balnikhov (IRE) in the stretch to win the 1 1/2-mile Hollywood Turf Cup Stakes (G2T) at Del Mar Nov. 29. Shipping to Del Mar after back-to-back stakes victories, Truly Quality drew the outside post and went off as the 8-5 favorite in the field of nine. As longshot Fearless Soldier took the early lead, jockey Vincent Cheminaud let Truly Quality ramble along next to last through fractions of :24.73 for a quarter-mile and :49.27 for a half-mile. "The pace was very good for us," Cheminaud said. The only horse behind Truly Quality at that point was Balnikhov, a talented local runner who had captured this year's Dinner Party Stakes (G3T) at Pimlico Race Course. After the field had traveled a mile, Truly Quality and Balnikhov still trailed the others. Cheminaud asked Truly Quality as they approached the final turn and had the jump on Balnikhov. They both circled wide to take aim on Goldeneye, another longshot who had raced in second early and then took command at the five-sixteenths pole. Balnikhov, going widest, appeared to have all the momentum, grabbing the lead in the final sixteenth as Goldeneye faded. But Truly Quality wasn't done, and he surged forward between Balnikhov on the outside and Nineeleventurbo inside him to score by a half-length in 2:28.54. Balnikhov ran second by 1 1/2 lengths over Nineeleventurbo. Truly Quality doesn't always lag so far behind in his races. "For whatever reason he's falling off of the pace, but he comes running and I thought his stamina really came into play today," said trainer Jonathan Thomas. "Had we been drawn a little closer, maybe we could have been in a position or two further ahead. But it's hard to complain with the outcome." Though Cheminaud says Truly Quality can get lazy in a race, the gelding gets the job done while following a demanding travel schedule. Thomas, who trains Truly Quality for owner/breeder George Strawbridge Jr.'s Augustin Stables, started him out at Horseshoe Indianapolis in May of his 3-year-old season. Since then, Truly Quality has competed at Churchill Downs, Belmont Park, Kentucky Downs, Keeneland, Santa Anita Park, Aqueduct Racetrack, Saratoga Race Course, Colonial Downs, and Woodbine before attempting Del Mar. Truly Quality doesn't always win, but that's usually because he wants a distance of ground. His four previous victories came at 1 1/4 miles, 1 3/8 miles, 1 1/2 miles (in the Colonial Cup Stakes), and 1 3/8 miles (in the Singspiel Stakes, G3T). Truly Quality comes naturally by his distance capabilities on the turf. His second dam is Forever Together, who won the 1 1/4-mile Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1T) for Augustin in 2008 en route to an Eclipse Award as champion grass mare. Forever Together produced Truly Together, Truly Quality's dam whose three victories came around two turns on the turf. Quality Road, the sire of Truly Quality, made his career on the dirt, with most of his seven stakes wins around two turns. This year, the 18-year-old stallion has also been represented by graded winners National Treasure, Integration, Hope Road, Heroic Move, Missed the Cut, and Track Phantom. Quality Road's 2025 stud fee will be $150,000, and he stands at Lane's End near Versailles, Ky.