Baltas wants Lady Prancealot in BC Juvenile Fillies Turf

ARCADIA, Calif. – In her first two starts in the United States, Lady Prancealot finished second in $100,000 turf stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Del Mar and Santa Anita.

For her third U.S. start, trainer Richard Baltas is aiming for the top of the division. Baltas hopes to run Lady Prancealot in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, a $1 million race at a mile on Nov. 2 at Churchill Downs.

Baltas admits he may need a little help for Lady Prancealot to gain a berth in a race that could draw a maximum field of 14. If the race oversubscribes, Lady Prancelot may need to be selected by a panel of racing officials to start against runners from Europe and throughout the United States.

Baltas will have a better idea next week whether Lady Prancealot has gained a spot in the field. In the interim, Lady Prancealot has a key workout this weekend at Santa Anita.

“She needs to work well and she needs to get in,” Baltas said.

Owned by the partnership of Christopher Dunn, Jerry McClanahan, and Jeremy Peskoff, Lady Prancealot won once in five starts in England before joining Baltas at Del Mar during the summer. She was a fast-closing second to Summering in the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf on Sept. 3 and closed well to finish a head behind Lakerball in the Surfer Girl Stakes on Oct. 8 at Santa Anita. Lady Prancealot finished the final quarter-mile in approximately 23 seconds in the Surfer Girl.

“I thought she ran great,” Baltas said. “It was a slow pace, and I think the horse that won got an easy lead.”

The BC Juvenile Fillies Turf is led by the New York stakes winner Newspaperofrecord and Just Wonderful, a stakes winner in England last month for Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien. Lady Prancealot will be an outsider.

“The horses back East are good, and I’m willing to take a shot,” Baltas said.

Lakerball is not expected to be pre-entered for the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf. The pre-entries are due Monday and will be announced Wednesday. Lakerball is a candidate for the $75,000 Pike Place Dancer Stakes for 2-year-olds fillies at a mile on turf Oct. 27 at Golden Gate Fields, trainer Doug O’Neill said Thursday.

Baltas, 57, plans to have two runners in Breeders’ Cup races. Next Shares earned a fees-paid berth to the BC Mile with his win at 23-1 in the Group 1 Shadwell Mile on Oct. 6 at Keeneland. The $1 million Shadwell Mile is Baltas’s richest win.

Next Shares closed from sixth in a field of 13 to win by 3 1/4 lengths over 81-1 Great Wide Open on a good turf course that may have been to his liking. Baltas said Next Shares may prefer a turf course that contains more moisture than a typical course in sunny Southern California.

“I think he can do it again,” Baltas said. “Going down the backstretch, I thought he was a little close. He mowed them all down.”

Baltas, whose stable has risen in prominence in California in recent years, has had eight starters in Breeders’ Cup races since 2001. His best finish has been a seventh by Gato Del Oro in the 2017 Dirt Mile at Del Mar.

Regardless of the outcome of Breeders’ Cup races, Baltas said his stable will undergo significant changes this fall.

The female stakes winners Gas Station Sushi, Insta Erma, Midnight Crossing, Mokat, and Queen Blossom and the stakes-placed Navajo Dreamer are scheduled to be sold at auctions in England and Kentucky in November. At the same time, Baltas said he expects his clients to be active buyers for 2019 races.