Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf: Precise shows up as likely favorite
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She was out of contention, and now she’s back in.
The appearance of Precise in the pre-entries for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar on Oct. 31 gives the one-mile race a clear favorite.
Precise won the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket Racecourse in Britain on Oct. 10 for her second consecutive win in a Group 1 and fourth straight win overall. In the immediate aftermath of the race, trainer Aidan O’Brien said Precise would be rested for a spring campaign.
O’Brien has changed his mind.
Even though the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf will have a big field, the focus will be on Precise, who races for the Coolmore syndicate. The filly is certainly in the right stable. O’Brien has won two of the last three runnings of the Juvenile Fillies Turf, including last year at Del Mar with Lake Victoria.
For this year’s race, O’Brien also pre-entered True Love, the winner of the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at six furlongs at Newmarket on Sept. 27, and Beautify.
True Love was pre-entered in the $1 million Juvenile Turf Sprint at five furlongs, which was listed as her preferred race. Beautify was second to Precise in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes at the Curragh in Ireland on Sept. 14, but only eighth of nine in the Cheveley Park Stakes.
Aside from Precise, several American-based runners have excellent chances.
Time to Dream won the P.G. Johnson Stakes by five lengths at Saratoga on Aug. 27 before finishing a fast-closing third to Juvenile Fillies Turf contender Imaginationthelady in the Grade 2 Jessamine Stakes at Keeneland on Oct. 3.
Ultimate Love is undefeated in three starts, the latest of which was a win by four lengths in the Selima Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on turf at Laurel on Sept. 27.
Ground Support led throughout the Grade 2 Miss Grillo Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Aqueduct on Oct. 4, a day before Brave Deb won the Surfer Girl Stakes at a mile on turf at Santa Anita.
The Juvenile Fillies Turf drew 16 pre-entrants, and will have a maximum of 14 starters. If True Love starts in the Juvenile Turf Sprint, La Ville Lumiere, third in the Grade 2 Oak Leaf Stakes on dirt at Santa Anita on Oct. 4, would draw into the field from an also-eligible list.
Celebrity Warrior, second in the Selima, is second on the also-eligible list, and would join the Juvenile Fillies Turf field should there be a defection among the 14 runners selected by a panel of Breeders’ Cup racing officials.
There are nine American-based fillies, six from Europe, and Switch in Love from Japan. Entries will be taken on Monday, along with the rest of the Breeders’ Cup races on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.
Three fillies have free berths for recent wins – Ground Support (Miss Grillo), Imaginationthelady (Jessamine), and Precise (Moyglare Stud Stakes).
There is one notable absentee from the list of pre-entries in Quiet Street, who won the Untapable Stakes at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 7 and finished a troubled third in the Miss Grillo Stakes for trainer Bill Mott.
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