Flotilla flows to Juvenile Fillies Turf victory

Flotilla easily outran her 11-1 odds to take the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf (Charlie Bernhardt/Horsephotos.com)

Sheikh Mohammed al Thani’s Flotilla was sent off at 11-1 to continue the
double-digit winners on Breeders’ Cup Friday, taking the Grade 1, $909,000

Juvenile Fillies Turf by 1 1/4 lengths after coming with furious late rally
down the middle of the lawn at Santa Anita. With Christophe Lemaire aboard, the
dark bay daughter of Mizzen Mast was forced to swing wide around the turn but
kicked into gear to get up and finish a mile on the firm turf in 1:34 3/5.

“This is great. Absolutely great. It was a good preliminary for Australia,”
said trainer Mikel Delzangles, who is readying Dunaden for a title defense run
in Tuesday’s Group 1 Melbourne Cup.

Tara From the Cape tried to lead all the way to the wire, setting the pace
through splits of :23, :47 1/5 and 1:11 while closely tracked by Waterway Run,
Moonwalk and Flashy Ways. Flotilla, meanwhile, settled in midpack just off the
rail on the backstretch.

As the field began overtaking Tara From the Cape, Flotilla found herself
blocked rounding the turn and had to take up slightly. Lemaire didn’t panic,
allowing his mount to settle back into stride, before sending her to split
horses and power home to pay $24.80, $10.80 and $7.80 as the sixth pick in the
field of 14.

“For me, it is a big achievement,” Lemaire said. “The Breeders’ Cup is so
very important in the horse racing season. I’m very glad to win a race like
that. It was something that was missing in my career.

Flotilla earned her first stakes victory in style (Lauren Pomeroy/Horsephotos.com)

“We had a great trip. She ran really hard,” said Javier Castellano, who had
piloting duties aboard Watsdachanches. “She was tracking behind the leaders, and
when I asked her to go, she put in her run. There are no excuses. She was
second-best today. Sometimes that’s just the way it is.”

Tara From the Cape just withstood the late rush of The Gold Cheongsam, who
came flying down the center of the track, to take fourth while Waterway Run,
Moonwalk, 5-2 favorite Sky Lantern, Nancy O, Infanta Branca, Flashy Ways,
Kitten’s Point, Spring Venture and Oscar Party completed the order of finish.
Sustained was scratched early Friday morning and Moulin de Mougin didn’t draw in
from the also-eligible list.

“I had plenty of horse. Just nowhere to go,” explained Sky Lantern’s rider,
Richard Hughes. “Usually in these kind of races, something will open up, but
today there was no hole at all.”

Flotilla owned only a maiden win heading into the Juvenile Fillies Turf, but
was fifth by just 2 3/4 lengths in the Group 2 Prix d’Aumale and fourth by 1 1/2
lengths in the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac in her two races prior to Friday’s
run. Now boasting a 2-0-0 mark from five starts, the dark bay miss has banked
$582,232 in lifetime earnings.