JUVENILE FILLIES TURF
PREVIEW
With just four years in the books, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf
doesn’t have the historical panache of the more heralded World Championship
events. That hasn’t stopped the race from producing some notable winners and
runners, though.
In just the second edition, Tapitsfly rose up from just a stakes win to take
the one-mile grass contest at 9-1. The gray miss has since gone on to score in
the First Lady and Just a Game, both Grade 1 turf stakes at eight furlongs. One
year later in the third running of the Juvenile Fillies Turf, More Than Real
defeated heavily favored Winter Memories. While the winner would never be able
to duplicate that effort, Winter Memories ended up adding six graded contests,
including the Diana and Garden City, both Grade 1s, to her resume.
This year’s renewal of the Juvenile Fillies Turf has a number of runners who
could go on to bigger and better things, including the unbeaten duo Spring
Venture and Flashy Ways, the top four finishers from the Grade 3 Jessamine on
October 11, Grade 3 Miss Grillo victress Watsdachances and European invader Sky
Lantern.
Watsdachances heads the field in terms of numbers, but the bay daughter of
Diamond Green will have her work cut out for her in this one. Fresh off three
straight wins, the Chad Brown filly’s come-from-behind running style could end
up hurting her chances here. She rallied to take the P.G. Johnson in her U.S.
debut on August 29, just getting up to score by a neck while going 1 1/16 miles,
and stayed at that distance next out to add the Miss Grillo to her line.
Though she was 2 1/4 lengths clear on the Miss Grillo wire, Watsdachances was
still running in fourth in the stretch. A sixteenth of a mile may not seem like
much on paper, but it could mean all the difference between a win and a placing
for this filly.
Spring Venture and Flashy Ways will attempt to keep their records perfect in
the Juvenile Fillies Turf, and both have experience winning at the one-mile
distance. Spring Venture got the job done in the Grade 2 Natalma at Woodbine
while Flashy Ways made a successful course and distance debut on October 8 in
the Surfer Girl.
The Jessamine may end up playing a big roll in the Friday’s race as only a
neck separated the top four finishers in that 8 1/2-furlong event. Moonwalk got
her nose in front of Kitten’s Point to take the win, with Summer of Fun another
head back third. Oscar Party filled the fourth spot another nose back the latter
filly. Of those four, Kitten’s Point may have a harder time adapting her
rallying style but could still come out a winner based on the fact she’s never
run on Lasix.
With the Breeders’ Cup ban on race-day Lasix for all two-year-old races, the
Graham Motion trainee holds a slight advantage on her American-based rivals.
Note the American-based classification, as all the European invaders will also
have the benefit of racing without Lasix prior to Friday. Sky Lantern, in
particular, could make some noise in the race off a 2 1/2-length victory in the
Group 1 Moyglare Stud.
The Richard Hannon-trained filly produced a quick turn of foot to run down her
rivals in the Moyglare Stud and, though she’s never gone past seven furlongs,
the gray filly is already being considered a contender for next year’s One
Thousand Guineas at a mile.
Waterway Run, The Gold Cheongsam and Flotilla are the other European runners
in the main body of the field, but Waterway Run probably holds the best chance
of the trio based on her 3-0-0 mark from four starts on good ground. The Santa
Anita turf is likely to be very firm on Friday, something neither The Gold
Cheongsam nor Flotiall have ever experienced before while Waterway Run took her
maiden debut on firm going at Salisbury in England.
Nancy O, Sustained and Tara from the Cape complete the main field for the
Juvenile Fillies Turf, with Nancy O a possible longshot play based on her third
in the Natalma. The bay miss was unable to factor in the Grade 1 Frizette on the
main track last out and was eased in that contest, but has shown much more on
turf. Sustained was second in the Miss Grillo but, like Watsdachances, her
come-from-behind running style could end up a hindrance on Friday.
Tara from the Cape could rebound off a fourth in the Grade 1 Alcibiades,
which took place on Keeneland’s synthetic Polytrack. The Todd Pletcher lass was
third in the P.G. Johnson before that and captured the Thomas (Tuck) Greene
Memorial on Delaware Park’s turf in early August.