Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf: Home team has numbers, but Euros have strength
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For an international race, American stables have dominated the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, winning 11 of 14 runnings since its inception in 2008.
This Friday and Sunday, three stakes at Aqueduct, Keeneland, and Santa Anita will help determine the depth of the U.S.-based team for the $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 1 at Del Mar.
The home team may need strength in numbers.
Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien, who won the race at Keeneland in 2022, has two notable candidates this year in the undefeated Lake Victoria and Heavens Gate, winner of the Group 3 Weld Stakes at The Curragh in Ireland last Sunday in her seventh start. Lake Victoria, winner of two Group 1 races in September, may start in the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket Racecourse on Oct. 11 in England.
At Keeneland on Friday, the winner of the Grade 2 Jessamine Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on turf will earn a fees-paid berth to the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf.
The unbeaten May Day Ready, winner of the $997,200 Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies Turf at a mile on Sept. 8 in her stakes debut, and Totally Justified, who won for the first time in the 1 1/16-mile P.G. Johnson Stakes on Aug. 28 at Saratoga, have established form for the $350,000 Jessamine. They must beat Destino d’Oro, the attractive winner of a maiden race at a mile on turf in her debut Aug. 31 at Kentucky Downs.
Destino d’Oro is trained by Brad Cox, who won the Juvenile Fillies Turf at Keeneland in 2020 with Aunt Pearl.
The Grade 2 Miss Grillo Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on turf Sunday at Aqueduct was postponed for a week because of wet conditions in New York last weekend. The winner receives a fees-paid berth to the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf. Virgin Colada, second in the P.G. Johnson, and Shifty, winner of the Catch a Glimpse Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs on Aug. 23 at Woodbine, are among the projected runners.
Virgin Colada is trained by Chad Brown, who has won the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf a record six times, including last year with Miss Grillo winner Hard to Justify.
No California-based trainer has won the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf, a trend that could end if Thought Process or Supa Speed show continued improvement in the next month. They were the first two finishers of the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf at a mile on Sept. 7 and lead the expected runners in Sunday’s Grade 3 Surfer Girl Stakes at a mile on turf at Santa Anita.
Thought Process, trained by Phil D’Amato, won the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf by two lengths over Supa Speed, who is trained by John Sadler. Supa Speed was fractious in the gate, then closed from sixth of 11 to finish a clear second.
There is one race in Paris on Sunday with possible BC Juvenile Fillies Turf ramifications. The winner of the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac at a mile will receive a fees-paid berth.
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