Dancing Rags constantly improving, says Motion

ARCADIA, Calif. - As far as Graham Motion can tell, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies “is a wide-open race,” which gives his recently minted Grade 1 winner, Dancing Rags, as good a chance as any of the 12 expected starters.

“The thing about our filly is she keeps improving,” Motion said after Dancing Rags breezed five furlongs Sunday morning in 1:02 at his Fair Hill base in northern Maryland. “She’s improved every time she’s run, and I think perhaps she’s even improved since she won at Keeneland. I’m quite happy with her.”

Dancing Rags, owned by the Chadds Ford Stable of Phyllis Wyeth, was 12-1 in upsetting the Grade 1 Alcibiades on Oct. 7 at Keeneland with Angel Cruz aboard. Cruz retains the mount for the $2 million BC Juvenile Fillies, the first of nine Breeders’ Cup races Saturday at Santa Anita.

Motion said he has closely assessed the Juvenile Fillies and can’t find an obvious favorite. “It looks to me that it’s very competitive and wide-open,” he said. “If we can get the right kind of trip and the filly runs her race, we could be OK.”

Dancing Rags is scheduled to ship here Tuesday by way of a Federal Express flight out of New York, along with fellow Fair Hill trainees Miss Temple City (BC Mile) and A. P. Indian (BC Sprint).

Meanwhile, Sweet Loretta, who dead-heated with Pretty City Dancer to win the Grade 1 Spinaway in early September at Saratoga, worked five furlongs in 1:03.34 early Saturday morning over the Belmont Park training track.

Working before sunrise, with Javier Castellano up, Sweet Loretta went her first quarter in 26.96 seconds. Trainer Todd Pletcher, via two-way radio, instructed Castellano to pick it up and Sweet Loretta did come home in a respectable 36.38 seconds. She galloped out six furlongs in 1:16.90, with the Belmont clockers giving her an official time of 48.80 seconds for a half-mile.

“She went off a little slow,” Pletcher said. “Sometimes that happens in the dark. I was kind of on the fence whether to go a half or five-eighths, so we found middle ground there. I thought the gallop out was good and essentially served its purpose to what we were looking for.”

At Santa Anita, a flurry of workouts was recorded Saturday toward the Juvenile Fillies: Union Strike, five furlongs in 1:00.40; Champagne Room, five furlongs in 1:00.20; Daddys Lil Darling, an easy half-mile in 51.20 seconds; and With Honors, little more than a two-minute lick when going five furlongs in 1:05.80.

Trainer Keith Desormeaux is leaning toward With Honors for the Juvenile Fillies, as opposed to the Fillies Turf, as a means of keeping her separated from stablemate Miss Southern Miss.

– additional reporting by David Grening

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