Fillies Mile appears to be wide-open race

European racing people will be looking for clues regarding the 2019 Classic races coming out of the Group 1 Fillies Mile on Friday at Newmarket. Folks on the west side of the Atlantic will be parsing performance vis-a-vis the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.

The Friday card at Newmarket, which also includes the Group 3 Oh So Sharp Stakes, another race in the 2-year-old filly division, figures to produce runners for the Juvenile Fillies Turf at Churchill Downs on Nov. 2. But no one seems to be certain what the Fillies Mile itself will produce. Eight are entered in the straight-course mile, and as of Thursday, five horses were offered at less than 10-1 in antepost betting.

Hermosa, Antonia De Vega, Pretty Pollyanna, and Zagitova sit atop the betting market – and all have as many flaws as assets. Hermosa and Zagitova both start for trainer Aidan O’Brien, and neither looks for sure like a Group 1 filly. Hermosa has started five times and comes into Friday’s race after winning a modest Group 3 at Naas, and two starts ago was third at 20-1 in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes – solid but unspectacular.

Fourth in the Moyglare Stud at roughly a quarter of Hermosa’s odds was Zagitova, who has not appeared to develop much in recent starts. Both fillies should stay the mile and travel adequately over ground forecast to be good-to-firm.

Fast ground would be fine for Pretty Pollyanna, but a mile might not be. Pretty Pollyanna looked like a future star romping to victory in the Group 2 Duchess of Cambridge Stakes on July 13 at Newmarket, but six-furlong races in July are a long way from one-mile tilts in October. Pretty Pollyanna, who debuted June 14, could only finish fourth last out in the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes, and Friday’s start will help show whether Pretty Pollyanna’s chief attributes are speed and precocity.

Antonia De Vega holds more appeal than the other three favorites and is 2 for 2 in her career, gathering up the Group 3 Prestige Stakes on Aug. 25 at Goodwood after a Newmarket maiden win where she handled Zagitova. Both starts came at seven furlongs, and at Goodwood, Antonia De Vega unleashed a visually impressive finishing flourish, though that performance has since lost some luster given the modest to dismal showings from every horse in the Prestige to have subsequently started.

That leads to Shambolic, who was 9-1 with British bookmakers as of Thursday. Shambolic starts for trainer John Gosden and jockey Frankie Dettori and jumps into a Group 1 after debuting in a seven-furlong maiden race restricted to unraced horses and winning a one-mile novice stakes at Ascot. Shambolic raced forwardly in both starts and at Ascot turned back a final-furlong challenge from a competent filly named Model Guest.

Shambolic, certainly a prettier mover than Antonia De Vega, not only stayed the mile adequately but galloped out with good energy, her ears pricked forward, and can improve in the Fillies Mile.

• The 3-year-old filly Wind Chimes has been retired following her last-place finish Oct. 6 in the Sun Chariot Stakes. Third in the French 1000 Guineas, Wind Chimes was second to the top French miler Recoletos in the Group 1 Prix du Moulin but was found to be suffering from a heart problem after the Sun Chariot. Wind Chimes, by Mastercraftsman, was trained by Andre Fabre for Coolmore.