With Alcibiades victory, Emphatic leads Walsh's Breeders' Cup runners
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Trainer Brendan Walsh emerged with only one graded stakes win but three potential Breeders’ Cup runners from the weekend’s racing at Keeneland.
Emphatic, despite having to dig deep and fend off favored Summer Starlet in the Grade 1 Alcbiades on Friday took her race well, Walsh said, and is all-systems go for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, where she’ll surely be among the favorites. Emphatic earned a 95 Beyer Speed Figure for running 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.40, the highest figure for a 2-year-old filly racing at one mile or longer this year. Summer Starlet, who had a troubled trip, got a 93, while Domain Expansion’s victory in the Oak Leaf at Santa Anita produced an 88. Summer Starlet got a 97 Beyer winning the seven-furlong Spinaway Stakes.
“She is every bit of hearty,” Walsh said Monday. “She looks great. We had her out there with the owners yesterday evening and she looks fantastic. Hopefully we’ll have a good few weeks here now.”
Emphatic likely goes back to the track Tuesday and has been stabled with Walsh’s Keeneland string since last week. Emphatic, 3 for 3, won the two-turn Sorority at Monmouth, and Walsh will only be aiming to maintain the filly’s excellent for before the Juvenile Fillies on Oct. 30.
Lush Lips took a heartbreaking defeat Saturday in the Grade 1 First Lady, and while that race was contested over one mile, Lush Lips won the 1 1/8-mile Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup last fall at Keeneland, and connections would like to stretch her out to 1 3/16 miles in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
Lush Lips, favored at a little less than 2-1 despite losing an August comeback race following a long layoff, turned into the homestretch of the First Lady behind a wall of horses, but in an instant, a gap opened, and Lush Lips made a mighty move sprinting through it and making a lead of a couple lengths.
“I’ve never seen her accelerate like that,” Walsh said.
Walsh also had never seen what Lush Lips did next – throw her ears up, lose focus, and basically stop running. The field closed back in on her, and by the time Lush Lips realized she needed to try again, she’d lost by a nose. A tough, tough beat, but Lush Lips showed she’s back to her best form.
Expensive Queen finished sixth in the First Lady, her first start since dead-heating for first in the Jenny Wiley this past April at Keeneland, but was beaten only a little more than 1 3/4 lengths. Expensive Queen got stuck behind rivals in upper stretch and only found any room to run inside the final half-furlong. She, too, is a candidate for the Filly and Mare Turf, Walsh said.
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