Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf: Despite being 3 for 3, Ulitmate Love hasn't gotten respect
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Despite a perfect record in three starts, Ultimate Love may be overlooked in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Oct. 31 at Del Mar, if given a chance in the division’s richest race of the year.
Ultimate Love did not start in a leading graded stakes in the division at Aqueduct, Keeneland, or Santa Anita last weekend. She is not a high-profile runner from Europe.
Instead, Ultimate Love has quietly amassed a perfect record at Colonial Downs and Laurel since late July. On Sept. 27, Ultimate Love won her stakes debut in the $125,000 Selima Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles on turf at Laurel.
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The win has led Live Oak Plantation and trainer Michael Trombetta to debate whether to send Ultimate Love across the United States to Del Mar, or try a lesser race such as the $150,000 Chelsey Flower Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on turf on Nov. 6 at Aqueduct.
“As long as she’s training well, that’s probably going to be talked about,” Trombetta said of a trip to California. “We’ll see if she’s training the way she’s supposed to.”
The Selima-Juvenile Fillies Turf double has been accomplished, by Sharing in 2019. Sharing was overlooked in the Breeders’ Cup, the 13-1 sixth choice in a field of 14.
The Selima winner has not always been pre-entered in the Juvenile Fillies Turf, or in one recent case, been given a chance to start.
In 2021, Consumer Spending won the Selima and finished sixth in the Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar. At least she got in the gate. In 2023, Breeders’ Cup officials relegated Selima winner Brocknardini to the list of also-eligibles for the Juvenile Fillies Turf after pre-entries were announced. She did not gain a berth in the field.
Last year, Pure Majestic won the Selima when the race was moved from turf to dirt. She was not pre-entered in the Breeders’ Cup.
In the Selima, Ultimate Love closed from fourth of eight to win by four lengths.
“I was very happy with it,” Trombetta said. “It was the best horses she’s faced.”
Ultimate Love is part of an American-based list of candidates that include the first three finishers of the Grade 2 Miss Grillo Stakes last Saturday at Aqueduct – Ground Support, Deep Learning, and Quiet Street – and the three finishers of the Grade 2 Jessamine Stakes on Oct. 3 at Keeneland – Imaginationthelady, Infinite Sky, and Time to Dream.
Other domestic hopefuls are the Grade 3 winners Final Accord, in the Matron Stakes at six furlongs on Oct. 2 at Aqueduct, and Brave Deb, in the Surfer Girl Stakes on Sunday at Santa Anita.
Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien, who has won two of the last three runnings of the Juvenile Fillies Turf, has the two leading candidates this year with the Group 1 winners Precise and True Love.
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