Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies: Beholder, My Happy Face join list of potential starters

Barbara D. Livingston

Barbara D. Livingston My Happy Face is possible for the BC Juvenile Fillies following her second in the Frizette.

Most of the major players for the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies are confirmed for the Nov. 2 race at Santa Anita, but the field is still in flux.

Sweet Shirley Mae, the Spinaway runner-up who was scratched from last weekend’s Frizette at Belmont, is now on the fence, while My Happy Face, beaten a head in that race by divisional heavy Dreaming of Julia, could join the fray, although plans have not yet been made for her, trainer Rudy Rodriguez said Wednesday.

Beholder’s camp, meanwhile, is debating pre-entering both the Juvenile Fillies and Juvenile Sprint. As for the undefeated Spring Venture, winner of the Mazarine at Woodbine on Saturday, she will instead move back to the grass for the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf, trainer Mark Casse said.

Casse also trains Spring in the Air, who took the Alcibiades last Friday at Keeneland, a Win and You’re In race for the Juvenile Fillies. She’s a go for that race and will fly out of her Churchill Downs base about five or six days in advance of the Breeders’ Cup, Casse said. He said plans are to work her back one time at Churchill before she travels. Patrick Husbands has the mount in the Breeders’ Cup.

[BREEDERS' CUP 2012: DRF top 10 lists, video replays, latest news]

Beholder will work sometime before the Oct. 22 deadline for BC pre-entries, trainer Richard Mandella said. She was a dazzling allowance sprint winner Oct. 4 at Santa Anita, and the Beyer Speed Figure of 108 that she earned after covering six furlongs in 1:09 has led to discussions about a possible start against colts in the $500,000 Juvenile Sprint.

“It’s too early to make any decisions,” Mandella said. “We’ll get her back to the track, see how she looks this next week. The simplest decision to me is to just run her in the Sprint. But you hate to give up the idea of going in the big one, the Juvenile Fillies, with more money and more prestige, if you thought you could do it.

“If she’s doing well enough, I may pre-enter both races.”

My Happy Face went back to the track Wednesday, a few days removed from her gutsy Frizette stretch battle with Dreaming of Julia. She came into the race off a 21-length maiden romp at Saratoga.

“Right now, everything’s still open,” Rodriguez said of plans for My Happy Face. “We’d love to go. We’ve got to see how she comes back, see how she eats. She jogged today. She looked very happy. [But] there are no plans yet. We’ve got to see what [owner Michael Dubb] says.” The Breeders’ Cup has long been Sweet Shirley Mae’s endgame, but plans were ruffled Saturday when she was scratched from the Frizette after Roveing Patrol became pinned underneath the gate. Sweet Shirley Mae was “nicked up above the knee,” during the incident, according to trainer Wesley Ward.

The race was to be Sweet Shirley Mae’s first since the Spinaway on Sept. 2, and Ward on Wednesday was debating going on to the Breeders’ Cup off a two-month gap as she did not get her intended prep in Saturday.

“It’s asking a lot to train into the Breeders’ Cup, and I’m not sure it’s something I want to do,” he said. “That’s a long time, race to race. I’d like it if she was sprinting. But it’s two turns, and a big race, the Breeders’ Cup. It would be a tough thing to do.”

Ward said, weather permitting, Sweet Shirley Mae was to work Thursday in New York and then fly in and join his Kentucky division on Monday. From there, decisions will be made whether she goes on to Santa Anita. He said the other option is the Grade 3, $500,000 Delta Downs Princess on Nov. 17. Ward said if she goes that route, Sweet Shirley Mae’s stepping-stone would be the track’s $150,000 My Trusty Cat on Oct. 19.

“We’ll probably enter in the race at Delta and take a look,” he said.

The early favorite for the BC Juvenile Fillies is Executiveprivilege, a two-time Grade 1 winner for trainer Bob Baffert.