Fair Grounds: Ria Antonia to face males in New Orleans this winter

Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Ria Antonia will spend the winter at Fair Grounds, where the plan will be to run her against males in Kentucky Derby prep races, co-owner Ron Paolucci said Thursday.

Paolucci’s Looch Racing Stable and Christopher Dunn own Ria Antonia, who is trained by Jeremiah Englehart. His assistant, Elizabeth Dobles, who was at Santa Anita with the filly for the Breeders’ Cup, will come to Fair Grounds with her, Paolucci said.

“I just think it’s a good fit for her,” he said of the decision to send Ria Antonia to Fair Grounds. “The weather’s good. It’s between 40 and 60 degrees. The races we want to run her in are in New Orleans.”

The filly will arrive in New Orleans around Dec. 20 after getting 45 days off at a farm, Paolucci said. A possible racing schedule for her might be an allowance race against males in early February as a prep for the Grade 2 Risen Star on Feb. 22, then the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby on March 29, he said.

Paolucci said that according to the sheets, Ria Antonia has run faster than males, and “I know she wants two turns.”

In the 1 1/16-mile Juvenile Fillies, she rallied from off a fast pace before falling a nose short of front-running She’s a Tiger. The stewards reversed the order, ruling that She’s a Tiger interfered with Ria Antonia in deep stretch.