Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf: Les Pavots brings strong French credentials
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There will be anxious moments next week for some owners with candidates for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 3 at Santa Anita.
Craig Bernick does not count himself among them.
The one-mile race is expected to have an oversubscribed field. Pre-entries close Monday. A panel of Breeders’ Cup officials will then chose 14 runners as the initial field, with the others placed on an also-eligible list. The pre-entry fields will be announced Oct. 25.
The list of 14 runners often changes before entries are taken, which this year will be on Oct. 30.
Bernick, who races as Glen Hill Farm in the United States, co-owns the filly Les Pavots, who won the Group 2 Prix du Calvados at Deauville, France, in August, and was third in the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris in her last race on Oct. 1.
A winner of 3 of 6 starts, Les Pavots has accomplished enough to gain a berth in the race from Bernick’s perspective.
“I would expect her to get in,” Bernick said last weekend. “She’s definitely done enough that I wouldn’t worry about her getting on the list.”
Les Pavots, trained by Francis-Henri Graffard, is one of several appealing foreign runners expected for the Juvenile Fillies Turf, including Prix Marcel Boussac winner Opera Singer, the French stakes winner Laulne, and the British stakes winners Carla’s Way and Porta Fortuna.
They will be joined by a North American team of probables that include the turf stakes winners Austere, Brocknardini, Buchu, Crown Imperial, Dreamfyre, Flattery, Gala Brand, Hard to Justify, and She Feels Pretty.
That’s a field of 14, with other owners hoping their fillies gain qualification. There always seems to be surprises on the pre-entries list for Breeders’ Cup grass races, with some additions and a few defections between pre-entries and entry day.
Opera Singer earned a fees-paid berth for the Juvenile Fillies Turf with her win in the Prix Marcel Boussac, France’s top race for 2-year-old fillies. She is rated as the leading contender for the Juvenile Fillies Turf, with She Feels Pretty, winner of the Grade 1 Natalma Stakes at Woodbine on Sept. 16, and Buchu, who won the Grade 2 Jessamine Stakes on Oct. 6 at Keeneland, as two other highly regarded runners.
Les Pavots will be a longshot, if Bernick gets his wish for a berth in the big field. Les Pavots was beaten 5 3/4 lengths by Opera Singer in the Marcel Boussac on good-to-soft turf. She finished three-quarters of a length behind runner-up Rose Bloom, who is not expected for the Juvenile Fillies Turf.
“The winner was very impressive,” Bernick said. “I think we arguably ran the second-best race. We got a little far back and they weren’t slowing down.
“She was almost second. I thought it was a pretty good effort.
“We’ve always thought if she was good enough, she’d like Santa Anita at the end of the year.”
Now all Bernick needs is a chance.
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