Godolphin Racing's Questing, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2012, has been retired and will be bred this year to Darley stallion Bernardini .
According to a statement from Godolphin, the British-bred daughter of Hard Spun —Chercheuse, by Seeking the Gold, had a minor chip successfully removed from a hind ankle earlier this winter but developed a lingering case of pneumonia while preparing for a return to training.
Trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, Questing retires with a record of four wins from 11 starts, with earnings of $876,876. Bred by Darley, she won one of three starts in her native England before being imported to the U.S. for a fifth-place finish in the 2011 Grey Goose Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I).
The filly began her championship campaign last year with a scintillating victory in an allowance/claimer, earning a Beyer Speed Rating of 105. That was followed by an easy four-length triumph over grade I winner Zo Impressive in the TVG Coaching Club American Oaks (gr. I).
In what McLaughlin called "one of the most impressive performances I have ever witnessed," the filly blew away the field by nine lengths in the Alabama Stakes (gr. I) after setting blistering fractions of :46.01, 1:09.60, and 1:35.06 en route to a final time of 2:01.29 for 1 1/4 miles. Questing then closed out her career with a second in the Cotillion Stakes (gr. I) at Parx Racing in Pennsylvania and an eighth-place finish when eased in the Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic (gr. I).