Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies: And Tell Me Nolies bucking the odds once again
LEXINGTON, Ky. – And Tell Me Nolies will be the only multiple graded stakes winner to walk into the starting gate ahead of the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Friday at Keeneland, and yet the Arrogate filly wasn’t generating much buzz this week – at all.
“That’s just fine with me,” said Peter Miller, who trains And Tell Me Nolies for Vancouver real estate magnate Peter Redekop. “Respect doesn’t pay the bills.”
A major factor in play is that And Tell Me Nolies earned relatively low Beyer Speed Figures at fairly high win odds in back-to-back scores in the Sept. 10 Del Mar Debutante and Oct. 8 Chandelier at Santa Anita. She was 8-1 when getting a 71 Beyer in the Grade 1 Debutante, then 9-1 with a 75 Beyer in the Grade 2 Chandelier, both races coming against what has been panned as a subpar crop of 2-year-old fillies on her home circuit of Southern California.
She’s 8-1 on the Keeneland morning line and might actually be a little higher when the Juvenile Fillies is run at 3:40 p.m. Eastern as the seventh of 10 Future Stars Friday races. As for the Beyers, well, she’s just going to need to step it up to be a major player against the likes of Chocolate Gelato, Wonder Wheel, and Chop Chop, the likely favorites in a full field of 14 in the 1 1/16-mile race.
“Look, these races are tough, they’re hard to win,” said Miller, who has been in town since Sunday. “I have a lot of confidence in her. She’s a very professional, hard-trying filly.”
And Tell Me Nolies will break from post 3 with Ramon Vazquez aboard. Ideally, she’ll sit mid-pack while saving ground behind an honest pace, said Miller.
“A lot depends on the pace,” he said. “We’ll talk it over with Ramon and play the break, so to speak. I like to say, ‘If they all send, take back; if they all take back, send’ – although, realistically, yes, I expect her to be mid-pack.”
Miller, 56, already has five Breeders’ Cup victories to his credit. In both 2017 and 2018, Roy H won the Sprint and Stormy Liberal won the Turf Sprint; in 2019, Belvoir Bay won the Turf Sprint. None of them were favored.
“I kind of prefer sneaking up on them,” said Miller. “We really don’t mind being under the radar with this filly.”
Besides And Tell Me Nolies, Miller also has C Z Rocket running Saturday in the BC Sprint for the third straight year. Those two will bring his career starts in the Breeders’ Cup to 34.
This will be the 39th Juvenile Fillies, one of the “original seven” held in 1984 at Hollywood Park. Echo Zulu won last year at Del Mar as the 4-5 favorite in a field of just six.
Keeneland main-track races at 1 1/16 miles begin and end at what otherwise is the sixteenth pole.
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