J Stables LLC’s Queen Arella overcame early trouble to score impressively at Gulfstream Park Friday, providing sire Speightster with his first winner from his first crop.
The New York-bred filly won by four lengths in the $65,000 five-furlong maiden special weight race for 2-year-old fillies carded as Race 2.
Queen Arella ($18.80) had to be checked sharply in early traffic by jockey Miguel Vasquez, but the WinStar Farm-bred filly recovered to make an extended wide run around the turn, pick up the leaders in mid-stretch and draw away while being eased up late. She ran five furlongs in :59.54 seconds.
Trained by Rodrick Rodriguez, Queen Arella was purchased for $1,000 at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October sale. She is out of Unbridled Sonya, a daughter of Unbridled’s Song whom Rodriguez once trained.
Speightster, a son of Speightstown who stands at WinStar Farm in Versailles, Ky.., began his racing career brilliantly, winning his first three starts, including the 2015 Grade 3 Dwyer Stakes at Belmont Park, before his career was cut short following an off-the-board finish in the G2 Churchill Downs Stakes in his fourth start.
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