Choisya Sets Sights on Just A Game Following Jenny Wiley Triumph
Keeneland‘s GI Jenny Wiley Stakes winner Choisya (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) will target the GI Just A Game Stakes during the Belmont Stakes Festival on June 6, her connections confirmed Sunday.
The English invader, who survived an objection to secure her first Grade I victory Saturday, registered an impressive 100 Beyer Speed Figure in her American debut.
“We’re delighted with Choisya’s win yesterday. She’s been improving all winter long in Dubai and obviously put up a career-best effort yesterday in such a great race like the Jenny Wiley at Keeneland,” said Ed Crisford, who trains the mare alongside his father Simon.
Choisya will return to the United Kingdom for a brief freshening before preparations begin for her next transatlantic journey.
“The plan is to bring her back home to the U.K. and give her a couple of weeks and then prepare her for the Just a Game at Saratoga,” Crisford added. “We’re really, really pleased with her. She’s improving and a tough filly. Hopefully, she has a very fun year ahead of her.”
The connections will utilize the fees-waived berth into the Just A Game that came with her Jenny Wiley triumph.
Her campaign appears to be following a similar path to Charlie Appleby’s Althiqa (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}), who leveraged her European group form into consecutive Grade I victories in New York via the Just A Game and Diana Stakes in 2021 before concluding her career with a fourth-place finish in Keeneland’s GI First Lady Stakes.
