Buchu earns Breeders' Cup berth with impressive Jessamine victory

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The late Hall of Fame trainer Charlie Wittingham famously said that horses, like strawberries, can go bad overnight.

Trainer Phil Bauer applied a similar philosophy as he looked at the condition books for fall race meetings, electing to wheel Rigney Racing’s homebred Buchu back in Friday’s Grade 2, $350,000 Jessamine Stakes at Keeneland less than two weeks after a maiden victory.

“Sometimes, the key in horse racing is run them when they’re right,” Bauer said. “She bounced out of her maiden very well. She’s a light filly, so I’m always concerned about her weight, but she jumped back into the feed tub. You look at the options moving forward for Kentucky horses, and this is it. We’d have to ship to New York for a stake. I told Mr. Rigney, ‘I’m confident she’ll run her race back,’ and he said, ‘Let’s go.’”

Buchu will have some shipping to do now, as she unleashed a breathtaking rally in deep stretch for a 3 3/4-length victory in the Jessamine. The race was a “Win and You’re In” event awarding her a fees-paid berth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 3 at Santa Anita.

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Buchu would be the second Breeders’ Cup starter for Bauer, 38, after Xigera finished 14th in last year’s Juvenile Fillies Turf at Keeneland. Xigera is a multiple stakes winner this year as Bauer is putting together a career-best year. According to Equineline statistics, Buchu gave the trainer his 21st win this year, tying the high-water mark he established in 2022 with nearly three months still remaining on the calendar. The filly pushed his barn’s season earnings to $2,603,997, past $2,508,774 from 2022. Bauer achieved another career milestone this year when he saddled his first Grade 1 winner, Played Hard in the La Troienne at Churchill Downs.

“Overwhelming that two years in a row we’re headed to a Breeders’ Cup race,” Bauer said. “It’s pretty special.”

Buchu ($13.30) earned her Breeders’ Cup berth under a confident, unhurried ride from Martin Garcia. With plenty of speed in the race to the inside of the filly, who drew post 10 in the field of 11, Garcia had her settled in ninth, and a little more than six lengths back, as Bella Haze, with Asternia on her flank, took the field through the opening half in 47.37 seconds on turf officially rated good after evening and overnight showers. Garcia also didn’t panic when others moved first and briefly left him last as the field spun around the far turn.

“I knew it was going to be big speed, so I just let her break and relax,” Garcia said. “In the first turn, I just took it easy and took her back, and she relaxed on the backside. At the five-sixteenths, I just took her out and then I asked her to go”

Buchu spun six wide near the quarter pole, and once straightened away, her kick was devastating. She inhaled a game Bella Haze inside the furlong grounds and was widening at the wire to her final margin. She stopped the clock in 1:42.48 for the 1 1/16 miles.

Pharoah’s Wine and Crown Imperial – the latter the only prior stakes winner in the field – were in midpack around the far turn and rallied in tandem in the stretch, with Pharoah’s Wine securing second by a nose. Crown Imperial was just a neck ahead of a game Bella Haze.

They were followed, in order, by Moonlight Gambler, Smooth Waves, Appellate, Abeyance, Time to Dazzle, Toupie, and Asternia. Toupie, trying two turns for the first time after a stakes placing against colts at Colonial Downs, was sent off as the favorite after she was 20-1 on the morning line.

“She broke really awkward and from there was really keen,” jockey Flavien Prat said. “She settled down around the first turn and on the backside, but then after that she was done.”

Buchu made her first two starts on dirt, finishing third in a 5 1/2-furlong sprint at Ellis and then third in a mile race rained off the turf on July 20 at Saratoga.

“Pedigree, the main goal was to get on the lawn,” Bauer said of the daughter of Triple Crown winner Justify, who has become an internationally-successful sire on multiple surfaces. Buchu is out of the Galileo mare Flowering Peach, sister to a French Group 3 winner out of turf graded stakes winner Naples Bay.

“We gave her a race at Ellis just to give her a start, and then Mother Nature got in our way at Saratoga,” Bauer continued. “And then a troubled trip.”

Buchu was indeed troubled when she finally got on the turf, as she was bumped hard at the quarter pole and checked on her way to finishing sixth in a Saratoga maiden on Aug. 20. She finally got a clean trip on the turf on Sept. 23 at Churchill Downs and powered to a 4 3/4-length win that earned her a spot in the Jessamine – and now, on to the Breeders’ Cup.

“I’m just overwhelmed and really happy for Mr. Rigney, now with one that he bred,” Bauer said. “Cue the Mamas and the Papas, we’re ‘California Dreamin.’”

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