Velazquez returns with upset in Queen Elizabeth

Written by Associated Press

Sunday, 12 October 2008 00:35

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - Filly Alwajeeha beat Backseat Rhythm by 1¼ lengths Saturday to win the $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland Race Course.

Jockey John Velazquez, who had a concussion after a fall last weekend at Keeneland, guided the 3-year-old Alwajeeha over the 1
1-8 miles in 1:48.09 on firm turf.

"I'm very blessed that nothing very serious happened to me (last week)," said Velazquez, who won earlier on the card with Baroness Thatcher. "This filly did it great every time I asked her for a little more, she kept giving it to me. I was very, very impressed with her."

She paid $25.20, $11.20 and $8.40. The late-closing Backseat Rhythm returned $5.40 and $4, and My Princess Jess paid $6 to show.

Velazquez was thrown from his mount, Tap Dancing, on Oct 3. during the seventh race on Keeneland's opening day of the fall meet. Fellow jockey Jamie Theriot also was thrown but able to walk off.

Also Saturday, Nickel Shooter, an allowance runner running in the Perryville Stakes, sustained multiple fractures of his left front fetlock and was euthanized.

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