Big ask for Donna Veloce in Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies

ARCADIA, Calif. – Never in the history of the Breeders’ Cup has a horse won a two-turn dirt race with just one prior start, but that’s exactly what Donna Veloce will try to do on Friday at Santa Anita in the $2 million Juvenile Fillies, and she will garner plenty of support to pull it off.

It’s a challenge on many fronts. Donna Veloce only owns a win against maidens, so she’ll be facing winners for the first time, let alone the division’s best in what will certainly decide the Eclipse Award for champion 2-year-old filly. Her only prior race was in a sprint going 6 1/2 furlongs, so she’ll be stretching out around two turns for the first time in the 1 1/16-mile race.

So why all the fuss? In her lone race at Santa Anita on Sept. 28, Donna Veloce – “fast woman” in Italian – proved aptly named. She romped by 9 1/4 lengths while earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 91, a faster number than any of her eight rivals – including Grade 1 winners Bast, British Idiom, Perfect Alibi, and Wicked Whisper – have recorded in 27 combined starts. It’ll be a classic case of whether talent can trump experience.

“We went into her maiden race strongly believing she could win, and with the Juvenile Fillies a distinct possibility if she was impressive and continued to move forward,” said Simon Callaghan, who trains Donna Veloce for Kaleem Shah. “She won that race as easy as you could ask and more, and has been on a good path since. Her three works all have been as good as you would hope.

“We realize it’s a tall order. It’s the best in the division, and we’re asking her to go from a maiden at 6 1/2 furlongs to the Breeders’ Cup at a mile and sixteenth. She’s out of a Montjeu mare, which is European stamina, so we think she’ll handle the distance.”

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Donna Veloce, a daughter of Uncle Mo, has had a good week of training, with works and gallops that have caught the eye. But she won’t get a breather. She drew the rail, and will have to leave under Flavien Prat. She is favored at 3-1 on the official morning line of Santa Anita’s Jon White.

Bast, also by Uncle Mo, is favored at 5-2 on the line of Daily Racing Form’s David Aragona. She is coming off a win in the top local prep, the Chandelier, in which she turned back the stubborn Comical to win by a neck in her first start going two turns. That was her second straight win, coming off a perfect-trip tally in the Del Mar Debutante, in which she got a career-best figure of 85.

“She showed she’s a good horse. Showed heart and determination,” Bast’s trainer, Bob Baffert, said of the Chandelier.

British Idiom and Wicked Whisper both bring perfect 2-for-2 records into the Juvenile Fillies.

British Idiom was a powerful winner of the Alcibiades at Keeneland, which was her first start around two turns and her first using Lasix. She got an 84.

Wicked Whisper, like British Idiom a first-out winner at Saratoga, got a Beyer Figure of 87 with her front-running win in the Frizette, a one-turn mile at Belmont Park. The Juvenile Fillies will be her first start around two turns, and her early speed should keep Donna Veloce from getting loose.

“She was lengthening at the end, which makes you think going longer won’t be an issue,” said Scott Blasi, the top assistant to Wicked Whisper’s trainer, Steve Asmussen.

Perfect Alibi was a distant second to British Idiom in the Alcibiades, which followed a pair of stakes wins at Saratoga, including the Spinaway.

“She’s not fancy, but she gets the job done,” said her trainer, Mark Casse, who thinks Perfect Alibi may not have cared for Keeneland. “She was on the bit at Saratoga, but in the Alcibiades she had to be asked to keep up. The track was very loose. She struggled with it.”

Casse also sends out Two Sixty, front-running winner of the My Dear Girl at Gulfstream, in which she got a Beyer Figure of 80.

“She’s under the radar a little bit,” Casse said. “She beat a soft bunch, no question, but the time was comparable to what the colts ran that day. This is a different kettle of fish.”

Like Casse, Doug O’Neill has two runners. In addition to Comical, he has Lazy Daisy, winner of the Pocahontas at Churchill after finishing fourth behind Bast in the Del Mar Debutante.

K P Dreamin was third in the Chandelier over a track that compromised her late-running style.

“She’s kind of a grinder,” said her trainer, Jeff Mullins. “She galloped out past the two leaders by the seven-eighths pole. A little hotter pace would help her.”

The Juvenile Fillies is race 7 on the 10-race card.