British Idiom can further define herself in Rachel Alexandra Stakes

NEW ORLEANS – Yes, she won all three of her starts in 2019, including two Grade 1’s, one of which was the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, leading to an Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old filly. But as she begins her 3-year-old season Saturday at Fair Grounds in the Grade 2, $300,000 Rachel Alexandra Stakes, is it bold suggesting that British Idiom could better be described as bog-standard than the bee’s knees?

The former, to translate the British idioms, hints at ordinariness, the latter at superlative, and while there’s no faulting British Idiom’s accomplishments (comfortable wins in a Saratoga maiden sprint and in the Grade 1 Alcibiades at Keeneland preceded her Juvenile Fillies), her speed figures, both on the Beyer scale and others, didn’t show much forward movement in 2019, and British Idiom, as far as champions go, tasted vanilla.

By Flashback out of Rose and Shine, by Mr. Sekiguchi, British Idiom sports an off-brand pedigree and cost only $40,000 at auction. A good horse, of course, can come from anywhere. But how good is this one?

:: To stay up to date, follow us on: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

British Idiom is listed at 8-5 on the morning line, a tepid projected favorite over 2-1 Finite. The divide at post time should be wider, but British Idiom isn’t the odds-on favorite a horse in her position might be.

Trained by Brad Cox, British Idiom got a December farm break before arriving in New Orleans, and British Idiom, Cox said, has gotten progressively stronger in her morning work. If she comes back Saturday a faster horse than she was in November, she’ll likely beat her seven rivals in this 1 1/16-mile race, which offers 85 qualifying points toward the Kentucky Oaks, doled out 50-20-10-5 to the top four finishers.

Javier Castellano has the mount on British Idiom and rode her throughout last season. At Saratoga, she ran professionally, but the nine horses she beat have found little subsequent success. The runner-up won a maiden race in her next start but was exposed in stakes competition. Nor was the Alcibiades field formidable: also-ran Micheline, who landed an allowance race, is the only one among 10 beaten fillies that have returned to win a race of any sort.

In the Juvenile Fillies, British Idiom got up by a neck over Donna Veloce, who had only a debut sprint win on her résumé. Both she and third-place Bast appear to be solid if unspectacular racehorses.

Finite also has far more grind to her game than brilliance. Her four-race winning streak includes three stakes – the Rags to Riches, the Grade 2 Golden Rod, and the Silverbulletday here last month – but her last two wins came by combined one length. Finite, a Munnings filly trained by Steve Asmussen, doesn’t drop jaws in morning training; it’s fair to wonder how much faster she can run.

“She keeps going out and getting the job done,” said Asmussen.

Finite beat Ursula by a neck here in the Jan. 18 Silverbulletday, with Tempers Rising a head farther back in third. Ursula set a slow pace, Finite stalked outside from third, and Tempers Rising had to rally from seventh at the three-furlong pole. Tempers Rising probably ran the best race among the trio and has since worked well, trainer Dallas Stewart said, but could again face a challenging pace dynamic.

Ursula, who improved in her first two-turn try, doesn’t have to make the front but won’t mind being there, trainer Mike Stidham said, and the only filly who, on paper, might challenge her during the early stages is Impeccable Style, one of two Ken McPeek-trained Florida ship-ins. The other is Swiss Skydiver, fifth in a five-horse blanket finish to the Jan. 18 Gasparilla at Tampa. Neither filly has tried a route, but both are “begging for two turns,” McPeek said.

“These are two exceptionally talented fillies. They’d better have their running shoes on over there,” McPeek said.

A cheeky assertion, to be sure; perhaps, not mere rubbish in the end.