2021 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf: Koala Princess will be a fresh horse
DEL MAR, Calif. – Koala Princess has not raced since a win in the Ainsworth Stakes at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 12. If she prevails in Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, Koala Princess would win following the longest layoff in the 13-year history of the one-mile race.
In 2015, Catch a Glimpse won the Grade 1 Natalma Stakes on Sept. 12, and won the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf at Keeneland when the event was held one week earlier than this year.
Koala Princess, trained by Arnaud Delacour for the partnership of Runnymede Farm, Peter Callahan, John Oxley, and Peter Zinkhan, will start at a mile for the first time on Friday. She won her debut in a maiden special weight race at about 5 1/2 furlongs on turf at Monmouth Park on Aug. 21 and the Ainsworth Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs.
Delacour said at Del Mar on Monday that the brief layoff may benefit Koala Princess, instead of her having a start in an early October prep race.
“We wanted to come here with a fresh horse,” Delacour said. “I thought that was a lot of shipping. I thought that was a lot to ask to run every three weeks.”
Joel Rosario will ride Koala Princess. She will be a longshot in a field that includes Pizza Bianca, who was second in the Grade 1 Natalma Stakes; Hello You, the winner of the Grade 2 Rockfel Stakes at Newmarket Racecourse in England; and Bubble Rock, the winner of the Grade 2 Matron Stakes at Belmont Park on Oct. 9.
“I believe in her or I wouldn’t be here,” Delacour said.