Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf: Fev Rover puts kick to good use
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Fev Rover is a bad kicker with a good kick, and she’s on her way to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf after a gutsy victory over a quality field in last week’s Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes at Woodbine.
A 5-year-old Irish-bred mare by Gutaifan, Fev Rover entered the E.P. Taylor after finishing a disappointing fourth in Woodbine’s Grade 2 Canadian on Sept. 9.
“She’s a handful,” trainer Mark Casse said. “She’s a very, very, very bad kicker. We saddled her outside [before the Canadian] just so she didn’t have anything to kick, and she threw a tizzy. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen her hot in the post parade and lathered up, and I knew that wasn’t good because that’s not her.”
Casse tried a different method before the E.P. Taylor.
“We saddled her inside,” Casse said. “Woodbine has a special stall that’s good for horses that are kicking. She was 100 percent better, so she wasn’t hot in the post parade and focused.”
In the E.P. Taylor, Fev Rover showed good speed, looked in hot water when Canadian champ Moira and world-traveler With The Moonlight loomed, then kicked clear once again.
Casse gave jockey Javier Castellano great credit.
“He told me that she was struggling a little,” Casse continued. “He said he grabbed her and gave her a breather, and she was ready and took off.”
Although Fev Rover’s last two wins have come from close to the pace, she captured the Grade 2 Nassau on July 1 with a last-to-first move.
“I think that’s what makes her so good,” Casse said. “The difference between good horses and above-average horses is their ability to adapt. She can do whatever Javier wants her to do.”
Considering some of her quirks, Casse would like to ship Fev Rover out early to Santa Anita to begin Breeders’ Cup preparations.
One mare who won’t have to travel is Didia, who returned from a June layoff last weekend to take the local prep for the Filly and Mare Turf, the Grade 2 Rodeo Drive.
A multiple Group 1 winner at 1 1/4 miles on turf in her native Argentina, Didia had a seven-race win streak snapped when a good second in a paceless edition of the Grade 1 New York Stakes on June 9.
Trained by Ignacio “Nacho” Correas, Didia was scheduled to tackle Fev Rover in Colonial’s Grade 1 Beverly D. on Aug. 12, but she was forced to miss that race after sustaining a cut on her head a few weeks earlier that required stitches.
◗ There’s a chance that Saturday’s Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes at Keeneland will produce at least one Breeders’ Cup starter.
Mawj makes her first start since winning the Group 1 English 1000 Guineas on May 7 at Newmarket. If all goes well at Keeneland, the half-sister to two-time Breeders’ Cup winner Modern Games might take on males in the Mile or stretch out for the Filly and Mare Turf.
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