Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies: Wonder Wheel earns herself a Florida vacation
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Trainer Mark Casse said all was well early Saturday with Wonder Wheel, whose three-length triumph the previous afternoon in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies surely clinched a divisional Eclipse Award for the Into Mischief filly.
Casse said Wonder Wheel will leave Keeneland on Sunday for a brief rest at his training center in Ocala, Fla., where she will eventually ease back into training to prepare for the May 5 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs.
Casse, understandably, was ecstatic with the performance of Wonder Wheel ($15), who was ridden by Tyler Gaffalione. She showed a welcome display of versatility in rallying from well off the pace to win the 1 1/16-mile Juvenile Fillies with an 83 Beyer Speed Figure. The dark bay filly won the Grade 1 Alcibiades on Oct. 7 at Keeneland in wire-to-wire fashion.
“She’s just a really good horse,” Casse said in the post-race press conference. “She is just special, and now she’s going to be a champion.”
Wonder Wheel, now a winner in four of five starts, was bred in Kentucky by Three Chimneys Farm and Clearsky Farms. She was purchased by the D. J. Stable of Leonard Green and family for $275,000 at the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sales.
Leave No Trace, who held second at 25-1 after forcing all the pace from post 12, “was neck-deep in her feed tub by the time we got back to the barn, which was great to see,” her trainer, Phil Serpe, said Saturday morning.
“We’ll give her a little down time and come up with a plan in the next couple of weeks,” Serpe said. “She’ll go with us to Gulfstream Park with the hope of us making it back here to Kentucky in the spring.”
Clearly the disappointments of the race were Chocolate Gelato and Chop Chop, who finished a nose apart when trailing the other 11 fillies to the wire.
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Chocolate Gelato, 12th as the 9-2 second choice under Irad Ortiz Jr. following a victory in the Grade 1 Frizette, will undergo a thorough examination from Dr. Larry Bramlage in the coming days, even though nothing seems overtly wrong with her, said trainer Todd Pletcher.
“Irad said he pushed the ‘go’ button down the backstretch, and nothing happened,” he said.
Chop Chop, 13th and last as the 2-1 favorite, emerged unscathed, said Brad Cox. “Kind of a rough trip and a little wide, but otherwise not her best effort,” said Cox. “She’ll go to Fair Grounds for the winter and get a little regrouping.”
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