Elusive Quality was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who was a record-setting sprinter on the racetrack and the leading sire in North America of 2004.
21 Facts About Elusive Quality
1.
2.
Elusive Quality sired the 2004 Kentucky Derby winner Smarty Jones.
3.
Elusive Quality was bred in Kentucky by Silver Springs Stud Farm and Marie Costelloe.
4.
Elusive Quality was owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who put him into training with Bill Mott.
5.
Elusive Quality was sired by Gone West, a stakes winning son of Mr Prospector.
6.
Elusive Quality's dam, Touch of Greatness, was an unraced daughter of Hero's Honor.
7.
Elusive Quality was a granddaughter of 1981 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year Natashka.
8.
Elusive Quality raced twenty times and won nine times, including two stakes races, on both turf and dirt.
9.
Elusive Quality made his first start as a three-year-old on May 3,1996 in a maiden special weight race at Belmont Park, which he won in front-running fashion by.
10.
Elusive Quality was second in his next start, then won his third start, an allowance race at Belmont.
11.
Elusive Quality was then eighth in the Vosburgh Stakes before being returned to allowance company, in which he finished second and first in his last two starts of the year.
12.
Elusive Quality set a fast pace and continued to open up ground on the rest of the field to win by five lengths.
13.
Elusive Quality was winless in his other four starts that year, with the highlight being a third place finish in the Tom Fool Handicap.
14.
Elusive Quality won four of seven starts at age five.
15.
Elusive Quality started the year with an allowance race win on February 5,1998 at Gulfstream Park, then another allowance win on April 29 at Churchill Downs.
16.
Elusive Quality responded by earning his first graded stakes win in the Jaipur Handicap, prevailing by a head in a time of 1:20.99 for seven furlongs over turf.
17.
Elusive Quality finished his career with a fourth place finish in the Woodbine Mile and a sixth in the Kelso Handicap.
18.
Elusive Quality retired to stud in 1999 for an initial fee of $10,000.
19.
Elusive Quality initially stood at Gainsborough Farm in Versailles, Kentucky before being relocated in 2007 to Darley America's Jonabell Farm in Lexington, Kentucky.
20.
Elusive Quality was the broodmare sire of 73 black-type winners.
21.
Elusive Quality was euthanized on March 14,2018 due to the infirmities of old age.