2021 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies: Calhoun gets what he wants from Hidden Connection's work
DEL MAR, Calif. – Hidden Connection, one of the top contenders for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies here at Del Mar on Nov. 5, turned in her final work for the race on Thursday morning at Churchill Downs, going five furlongs in 1:00.80 under her regular rider, Reylu Gutierrez.
Her trainer, Bret Calhoun, said he had originally planned to work on Friday, but moved the work up 24 hours owing to rain being in the forecast for Friday.
“I didn’t want to take a chance,” Calhoun said by telephone. He said Gutierrez “hit it right on the nose” in terms of how fast Calhoun wanted the filly to go.
“It was pretty effortless,” Calhoun said. “She bounced out of it pretty easy.”
Hidden Connection is scheduled to fly to California on Monday, Calhoun said.
Hidden Connection, a daughter of Connect, has won both her starts. She defeated maidens on debut on Aug. 17, then on Sept. 18 won the Grade 3 Pocahontas at Churchill Downs.
The Juvenile Fillies, which is at 1 1/16 miles, had nine pre-entries on Wednesday, headed by Echo Zulu, the unbeaten winner of two Grade 1 races, the Spinaway and Frizette.
The field is expected to be Ain’t Easy (Joel Rosario the rider), Desert Dawn (Ricky Gonzalez), Echo Zulu (Ricardo Santana Jr.), Hidden Connection, Juju’s Map (Florent Geroux), Nest (Irad Ortiz Jr.), Sequist (Junior Alvarado), and Tarabi (Javier Castellano).
Cairo Memories, the ninth pre-entrant, is cross-entered in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and is expected to go there.