Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint: Love Reigns, The Platinum Queen are fast. Will they be lucky?
LEXINGTON, Ky. – To win the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint on Friday at Keeneland, you must be fast – and you must be lucky.
With a full field of 12 2-year-olds going 5 1/2 furlongs on turf, a good trip is paramount in the BC Juvenile Turf Sprint.
“I think of all the races, the turf sprints, the trip you get can eliminate you or propel you,” said Steve Asmussen, who sends out multiple stakes winner Private Creed. “It’s obviously a very talented group here at the Breeders’ Cup of very similar horses, and that’s what makes it so difficult.”
The fillies Love Reigns (4-1) and The Platinum Queen (7-2) are the favorites on the track’s morning line. Both should be forwardly placed, and both come in with questions.
Love Reigns recovered from a slow start to roll by 9 3/4 lengths in her debut in April on the Keeneland turf. She then finished fourth, beaten three lengths, in the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes at the Royal Ascot meeting.
ove Reigns returned from a two-month break with a 2 1/2-length victory in the Bolton Landing Stakes on Aug. 21 at Saratoga and has not raced since. Wesley Ward, who has saddled the last three winners of the Juvenile Turf Sprint, entered Love Reigns in the Indian Summer Stakes on Oct. 9 at Keeneland to keep his options open, but scratched her.
“I’ve found that more spacing, especially with 2-year-olds, they run better,” Ward said.
Love Reigns, who is expected to by one of several showing early speed, will have Irad Ortiz Jr. in the irons and breaks from post 2.
The Platinum Queen was 13th in the Queen Mary, but has since come on strongly. She was second in the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes to the older Highfield Princess, one of the favorites in Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. After finishing second by a nose in the Group 2 Flying Childers Stakes against juveniles, The Platinum Queen faced older foes again, and won the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye by a neck, becoming the first juvenile to win the race since Sigy in 1978. She will now try to become the first European-based winner of the Juvenile Turf Sprint, which was added to the Breeders’ Cup in 2018.
The Platinum Queen got major weight breaks when facing older horses. The Platinum Queen received 24 pounds from Highfield Princess in the Nunthorpe and 17 from Abbaye runner-up White Lavender. The fillies in Juvenile Turf Sprint will carry 119, three pounds less than their male rivals.
While most top-level European sprints run on straightaways, The Platinum Queen and other international shippers must contend with a left-handed turn at Keeneland. Trainer Richard Fahey doesn’t think racing around a turn will be a problem for The Platinum Queen. She has trained around a left-hand bend at home, he told the press in Europe, adding that “she has an inclination to go left.”
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The Platinum Queen and jockey Hollie Doyle break from the outside post on Friday, which could be beneficial as she may be able to avoid a crush of horses.
Dramatised, who defeated Love Reigns and The Platinum Queen winning the Queen Mary, has also been preparing for her first race around a turn, with trainer Karl Burke having sent the filly to train around a left-handed turn in Europe.
“It just gave us a chance to check she was happy doing that and getting on to the [correct] lead and everything, which she was,” said Lucy Burke, deputizing for her father at Keeneland. “So it was a nice prep.”
Dramatised has made just one start since the Queen Mary, finishing fifth in the Group 2 Lowther Stakes at York on Aug. 18.
“You could probably draw a line through her previous run, over six furlongs,” Lucy Burke said. “We didn’t feel she stayed, and she was ridden quite aggressively that day because we thought she would stay. So the drop back in trip is definitely going to help.”
Likely to gun toward the lead is Speed Boat Beach, whose break from post 11 under Flavien Prat will be crucial to clear inside foes to save ground. Trained by Bob Baffert, the colt dazzled on dirt at Del Mar in his debut, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 104, tied for the best this year by a juvenile. He moved to turf and posted an 81 while winning the Speakeasy Stakes at Santa Anita in his only other start.
Along with Love Reigns, The Platinum Queen, Dramatised, and Speed Boat Beach, Europeans Persian Force and Lady Hollywood – the latter drawn on the rail – also would like to be forwardly placed, along with Skidmore Stakes winner Oxymore and Tyro Stakes winner Sharp Aza Tack.
Iowa-bred Tyler’s Tribe, making his first start on turf, is something of a wild card. He has gone wire to wire in all five of his starts, all dirt sprints, including four stakes at Prairie Meadows, winning by a combined 59 3/4 lengths.
“I don’t think this horse needs to be on the lead – he’s just so fast he does it easy,” trainer and co-owner Tim Martin said. “I think he’ll run with them or right off them.”
Tyler’s Tribe, who is named for the leukemia-fighting grandson of co-owner Tim Lepic, has some turf breeding. His freshman sire, Sharp Azteca, has sired stakes winners on both dirt and turf, and is by dominant New York turf sire Freud.
Private Creed might capitalize on a blistering early pace. He came from fourth in a field of five to win the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Sprint going 6 1/2 furlongs, besting Friday rival Sharp Aza Tack. He rallied from fifth to win the Indian Summer at this course and distance on Oct. 9.
“He is a great big, long-jumping, pretty horse that’s had success in turf sprints that looks like he wants to go around again,” Asmussen said.
Mischief Magic, trained by Charlie Appleby, raced around a right-hand turn in the Group 3 Sirenia Stakes on the synthetic surface at Kempton in England Sept. 3, rallying powerfully to win the six-furlong race by two lengths.
American Apple, upset winner of the Grade 3 Matron Stakes on turf at Aqueduct, should be stalking the pace.
The also-eligibles, in order of preference, are Bushido, No Nay Hudson, and Mounsieur Coco. They can draw into the field if any defections occur by scratch time, Friday at 8 a.m.
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