Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf: Comanche Country will try to buck history
She is on a three-race winning streak, has won stakes in a convincing manner in her last two starts, and is part of one of the nation’s most high-profile stables. Comanche Country has excellent credentials for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Keeneland on Nov. 4.
There is one drawback – she’s from California.
In the 14-year history of the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf, no runner from California has reached the winner’s circle. Some have come close. In the last 10 years, Colonel Joan was third in 2013 and Sunset Glow was second in 2014.
Comanche Country, an Irish-bred filly by Highland Reel who races for the Little Red Feather Racing partnership, Sterling Stable, and Marsha Naify, will need to improve to end that trend.
After losing her first two races in Ireland in April and May, she is unbeaten in three starts in California, all at a mile on turf, including the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf on Sept. 10 and the Grade 3 Surfer Girl Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 9.
Those were fine results, but trainer Phil D’Amato knows Comanche Country must be better on Nov. 4.
“It will take a filly that is ready to run her ‘A’ race and get the perfect trip,” he said. “That’s how you win Breeders’ Cup races.
“I think confidence is going to play a big part in this. She’s won three in a row. She knows her job. All of those things play a part and hopefully she can make the next step.”
Comanche Country must beat runners such as Blue Rose Cen, the easy winner of the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac at a mile on soft turf at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris on Oct. 2.
Trainer Aidan O’Brien of Ireland is likely to have a few runners in a race he has yet to win, but the team will not be finalized until workouts this weekend, a spokesman for the stable said on Wednesday.
Aside from Comanche Country, the North American team is led by such fillies as Pleasant Passage, who won the Grade 2 Miss Grillo Stakes at the Belmont at Aqueduct on Oct. 1; Last Call, Cairo Consort, and G Laurie, the first three finishers of the Grade 1 Natalma Stakes at Woodbine on Sept. 17; and Delight, the winner of the Grade 2 Jessamine Stakes at Keeneland on Oct. 7.
Comanche Country will be helped if the turf is firm. Conditions have been dry lately at Keeneland.
“If we’re lucky to get a firm turf, that will help the cause,” D’Amato said. “She needs to take one more step and she’ll definitely be with the main contenders in there.”
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