Belmont: Artemis Agrotera preps for Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies with bullet work

ELMONT, N.Y. – Though Artemis Agrotera won the Grade 1 Frizette here at Belmont Park on Oct. 5, most of the talk immediately following the race was about the trouble favored Sweet Reason overcame to be second.

While Mike Hushion, the trainer of Artemis Agrotera didn’t want to speculate about the outcome of the Frizette, “it would have been very interesting if she came to our neck what my filly would have done,” Hushion said.

Perhaps that circumstance will play out in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita on Nov. 2.

On Friday, Artemis Agrotera prepared for the Juvenile Fillies by working four furlongs in 46.64 seconds over the main track. It was the fastest of 21 recorded works at the distance.

Working shortly after the 8:45 a.m. renovation break – when the track was very quick – Artemis Agrotera went her first quarter in 22.95 seconds and came through the lane in 23.69. Under exercise rider Lorina Anderson. Artemis Agrotera galloped out five furlongs in 59.43 and six furlongs in 1:13.58, according to Daily Racing Form ’s Mike Welsch.

“She geared her down a little bit the last couple of jumps which helped gear her down for the gallop-out,” Hushion said. “For her last race, when she worked in 46 [seconds] she galloped out in 58-and-change so theoretically she relaxed today – a little more than I did.”

Artemis Agrotera is a New York-bred daughter of Roman Ruler out of the A.P. Indy mare Indy Glory, who is a half-sister to the Grade 1 winner Stephen Got Even. Hushion is counting on that pedigree to enable his filly to get the 1 1/16 miles of the Juvenile Fillies around two turns at Santa Anita.

Hushion said he loves how Artemis Agrotera has done since the Frizette. He plans to breeze her one more time in New York before shipping her to California on Oct. 28 or 29.

“She didn’t lose any weight. She put on a few pounds off of the race, which I just love to see,” Hushion said.

Brown in no rush with Bakken

Bakken, an emphatic debut winner sprinting for trainer Chad Brown on Oct. 13, will get the chance to stretch out in distance, but it will come slowly.

“We’re certainly going to try and stretch the horse out along the way, but it’s going to be in very gradual steps,” Brown said. “I’m not committing him to go two turns. At this point, anything at one turn I’m happy to stretch him out as far as he can go.”

Bakken, a son of Distorted Humor and a half-brother to Grade 2 stakes winners Justwhistledixie and Chace City, won his debut by 6 1/2 lengths, running six furlongs in 1:08.46. He earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 96.

Brown had Bakken rated as one of this better 2-year-olds of 2012, but the horse “had some injuries along the way” and needed time off, Brown said.

“Now he seems to be 100 percent,” said Brown, who trains the horse for William Warren. “Obviously, we were delighted with his debut. He couldn’t have done anything any better.”

Two trainers fined

Trainers Phillip Scott and Doodnauth Shivmangal were fined $1,000 each and suspended seven days for the findings of the drug Flunixin in the system of the horses who ran at New York tracks in the spring.

Both trainers had their suspensions stayed provided neither gets another infraction for the same medication violation for a year.

Why Broadway, trained by Shivmangal, was found to have the drug in his system following a win at Aqueduct on April 11. The horse was disqualified and unplaced and the connections had to forfeit the first-place purse money.

Raffie’s Star, who finished third in the first race at Belmont on April 20, was ordered unplaced and the connections had to forfeit their share of the purse.

My Miss Aurelia works

My Miss Aurelia, champion 2-year-old filly of 2011, worked four furlongs in 48.84 seconds Friday morning over the Belmont training track. She has not run since finishing third in the Azeri Stakes at Oaklawn in March.

In the barn of Todd Pletcher since August, My Miss Aurelia is nominated to the Grade 3, $200,000 Turnback the Alarm Handicap run at 1 1/16 miles here next Saturday.