Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf: Lady Speightspeare sidelined; large field expected
Lady Speightspeare, the undefeated winner of the Grade 1 Natalma Stakes on Sept. 20 at Woodbine, will miss the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 6 at Keeneland after recently being diagnosed with a knee injury.
The setback is expected to keep Lady Speightspeare out of training until the winter, trainer Roger Attfield said Wednesday.
“It’s kind of disappointing,” Attfield said. “I have had to stop on her and give her a little bit of time. We’re not going to make it.”
Owned and bred by Charles Fipke, Lady Speightspeare won her debut in a maiden special weight race at seven furlongs on turf Aug. 22 at Woodbine and won the Natalma Stakes at a mile by three-quarters of a length over Alda, another candidate for the Juvenile Fillies Turf.
Lady Speightspeare earned a fees-paid berth to the Juvenile Fillies Turf with the Natalma win.
The Juvenile Fillies Turf, run at a mile, typically draws a large field and is expected to do so this year.
Graham Motion, who won the race at Santa Anita in 2019 with Sharing, trains Alda and has two other contenders with Invincible Gal, who was second in the Selima Stakes at Pimlico last Saturday; and Batyah, who was entered in Wednesday’s Grade 2 Jessamine Stakes at Keeneland.
Alda and Invincible Gal will have their next starts in the Juvenile Fillies Turf. The race is led by the undefeated Campanelle, who has won three races for trainer Wesley Ward; Madone, the undefeated three-time winner from California; and Plum Ali, who won the Grade 2 Miss Grillo Stakes on Sunday at Belmont Park.
There is expected to be a strong contingent from Europe, which may include Shale and Pretty Gorgeous, the first two finishers of the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes at The Curragh in Ireland on Sept. 13. The Group 1 Fillies’ Mile on Friday at Newmarket is a key prep race, four weeks before the Juvenile Fillies Turf.
Invincible Gal was second by 2 1/4 lengths in the Selima to Juvenile Fillies Turf hopeful Fluffy Socks. Invincible Gal disputed the pace on the yielding turf and led in the stretch.
“She was right up there on the pace,” Motion said. “I think she did the heavy lifting, if you like, on the real soft ground. She had every license to throw in the towel.
“It was English soft on Saturday. It was bottomless.”