Breeders' Cup: My Miss Aurelia to winter in California
LOUISVILLE, Ky. After dominating the East Coast during her 2-year-old season, My Miss Aurelia is headed west to prepare her for 3-year-old campaign.
The morning after My Miss Aurelia completed a perfect season by winning Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies by three lengths at Churchill Downs, trainer Steve Asmussen said the filly would spend the winter at Santa Anita. Asmussen trains My Miss Aurelia for the partnership of Stonestreet Stables and George Bolton, who both are based out west.
“It’s what we did with the Stonestreet horses last year,” said Asmussen, who won 13 races from 52 starters at Santa Anita last winter. “Proximity, how much we enjoyed Santa Anita last year, how well we thought the horses did out there; just think it’s the right thing to do.”
Stonestreet bred My Miss Aurelia but put her through the auction ring as a yearling where Bolton purchased her for $550,000. He then brought Stonestreet back in as a partner. Stonestreet’s principal owner, Jess Jackson, named the horse after Bolton’s mother. Jackson died earlier this year. The stable is now headed by Jackson’s widow, Barbara Banke.
[bc_video_id:237833:]My Miss Aurelia added the Juvenile Fillies to earlier victories in the Grade 2 Adirondack at Saratoga and the Grade 1 Frizette at Belmont. She will undoubtedly become the 24th Juvenile Fillies winner to be named 2-year-old filly champion in the 28-year history of the race.
“How good could you possibly want a 2-year-old to look when you look at her four races,” Asmussen said Saturday morning. “Her maiden race ended up being the maiden race. In the Adirondack, she showed tremendous grit for a filly off one maiden race 19 days later. The Frizette was `Wow!’ You watch that race and say ‘You’re a runner; special.’ ”
My Miss Aurelia, a daughter of Smart Strike, ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:46.00 over a good track and was given a modest Beyer Speed Figure 86.
By going to California, My Miss Aurelia is likely to encounter Weemissfrankie, the multiple Grade 1 winner who finished third in Friday’s Juvenile Fillies.
Grace Hall, the Grade 1 Spinaway winner who finished second in the Juvenile Fillies, will spend the next several weeks at a farm in Lexington before joining Tony Dutrow’s stable at Palm Meadows for the winter. Dutrow said his goal for Grace Hall is the Kentucky Oaks here at Churchill on May 4 with probably only one start.
“I’m feeling I only need to run her once,” Dutrow said.