Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies: All the major players are on board
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The field for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies is holding together quite nicely, with almost all of the top finishers from the last three major preps running back in the Nov. 4 race at Keeneland.
The top three in the Grade 1 Frizette at Aqueduct are all accounted for – Chocolate Gelato, You’re My Girl, and Leave No Trace.
Three of the top four in the Grade 1 Alcibiades at Keeneland also will run, those being Wonder Wheel (first), Chop Chop (second), and Raging Sea (fourth after being disqualified from third). In addition, Xigera, who was elevated to third from fourth, will run if she can’t make the field for the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf, trainer Phil Bauer said.
The top two in the Grade 1 Chandelier at Santa Anita, And Tell Me Nolies and Uncontrollable, also are confirmed, with third-finisher Justique staying home in California.
This melting pot from the top three American racing jurisdictions should make for some spirited handicapping after pre-entries are revealed next week. And yet there are a handful of other hopefuls for the 1 1/16-mile Juvenile Fillies who didn’t participate in any of those final three preps but whose connections are looking to run, including Atomically, who will be making her first start since being moved into the Todd Pletcher barn, and Grand Love, the beaten favorite in the Pocahontas on Sept. 17 at Churchill Downs following a debut victory at Saratoga that graded out to an 84 Beyer Speed Figure.
Grand Love, a Three Chimneys homebred from the second crop of red-hot sire Gun Runner, has breezed three times at Keeneland while being regrouped for the Juvenile Fillies by Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen.
“She’s extremely talented,” Asmussen said. “We think her best is yet to come. She has a huge rhythm, a tremendous constitution. I think she’ll have a breakout performance in the Juvenile Fillies.
“She came up a little empty off her 6 1/2-furlong maiden race, but I think she got a lot out of it. I love all the indications in how she has trained here at Keeneland.”
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