Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies: Win over track and distance gives Chatalas an edge
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Chatalas will have a key variable in her favor next month in the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies – a two-turn win at Santa Anita.
She accomplished the feat last Saturday, when she wired the field in the Grade 2 Chandelier, earning a berth into the championship race on Nov. 3.
The Chandelier was run over the same 1 1/16-mile distance of the Juvenile Fillies, and Chatalas equaled her best career Beyer Speed Figure, a 74. She is based at Santa Anita.
“She bounced out of the race, looks pretty good, so hopefully we’re on target,” trainer Mark Glatt said Monday. “We’ll just kind of keep her happy. She’s plenty fit. We’ll probably work her a couple of times, maintenance drills, in between. I don’t think we’ll need to do much with her prior to the Breeders’ Cup.”
Chatalas was a debut winner over 5 1/2 furlongs in a Del Mar maiden special weight in July. One start later, she ran fourth to division heavyweight Tamara in the track’s Grade 1 Debutante before making the move to two turns in the Chandelier.
“I did think she would improve with more ground,” Glatt said of the daughter of Gun Runner. “We probably tried to be a bit too close to a pretty tough pace in the Debutante. I was just glad to see her bounce back.”
Glatt said Chatalas is a filly with good route speed. Based on the early probables for the Juvenile Fillies, she might get an ideal trip just off Tamara, who is moving to two turns for the first time.
“She’s a very laid-back filly,” Glatt said of Chatalas. “She doesn’t let much bother her, at least outwardly. She’s a good-size filly, close to 16 hands. A good-looking filly.”
Chatalas won the Chandelier by a 1 1/2 lengths over Scalable. It was another neck back in third to Dua.
Plans for Dua are still being determined, trainer Bob Baffert said Monday.
Brightwork ships Oct. 30
Brightwork, a Grade 1 winner based at Keeneland, is scheduled to ship to Santa Anita for the Juvenile Fillies on Oct. 30, trainer John Ortiz said Tuesday. She will be coming off a fifth-place finish in the Alcibiades on Oct. 6. It was the first defeat for the four-time winner, who was making her two-turn debut off a victory in the Spinaway at Saratoga.
“She just wasn’t herself that day,” Ortiz said of the Alcibiades. “I think she just didn’t understand what we were asking of her. She looked a little disinterested at the quarter pole, where normally she’s got a big kick. Maybe a little lost.”
Ortiz said Brightwork has emerged from the race in excellent condition.
“We’re going back to the drawing board,” he said. “We’re still targeting the Breeders’ Cup. Unless she tells us not to, as of right now, it’s all systems go.”
Candied won the Alcibiades with a Beyer Speed Figure of 85. V V’s Dream, a Grade 3 winner who was second, is a maybe for the Juvenile Fillies, according to trainer Kenny McPeek.
◗ Central Avenue, second to Just F Y I in the Frizette at Aqueduct, will be debated for a possible start in the Juvenile Fillies, trainer Michael Stidham said Monday.
“It’s something we will consider,” he said of upcoming discussions with Godolphin.
–additional reporting by Marcus Hersh
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