Immersive has plenty left for Alcibiades stretch run; heads to Breeders' Cup 3 for 3
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LEXINGTON, Ky. - Immersive is relentless. She closed stoutly from the quarter pole to win her career debut at Saratoga, got up in the final 50 yards there to capture the Grade 1 Spinaway, and on a sun-drenched, summery Friday at Keeneland, proved herself – for the moment – the leading 2-year-old filly of the autumn, winning the Grade 1, $600,000 Alcibiades Stakes by 1 1/4 lengths.
Immersive debuted at six furlongs, won the Spinaway over seven, and on Friday in the 1 1/16-mile Alcibiades finally got to do what her connections, Godolphin and trainer Brad Cox, believed she wanted to do – race over a route of ground.
Taking a perfect outside stalking position after an aggressive break from post 7 under Manny Franco, Immersive attacked midway around the far turn, seized the lead from Rich City Girl cornering into the homestretch, idled slightly after hitting the front, then put her head down and strode to the wire while holding clear a solid run from Quickick.
“I think this is a very talented filly,” said Cox, who missed sweeping the three Keeneland stakes by two noses, Destino d’Oro coming up just short in the Jessamine after Federal Judge romped in the Phoenix. “She’s been good from day one. She shows up every week when you lead her out there to breeze. I think she’s a special talent.”
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Immersive, 3 for 3 with a pair of Grade 1s, figures to go to Del Mar favored for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
“One more for championship honors,” Cox said.
Quickick, coming out of a seven-furlong Saratoga maiden win, raced against an apparent track bias, the Keeneland dirt favoring inside speed – at least forward placements – throughout the day. Quickick lacked speed, dropped to last in the early stages, made a strong far-turn move, and had aim on the winner turning for home in a race that ended at the sixteenth pole.
“Maybe the track wasn’t playing to her style,” said trainer Tom Amoss, who expressed a desire to go on to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. “She came from off the pace and behind horses and had to be wide. I really thought she gave who I thought was the best 2-year-old filly in the country quite a challenge in the end there.”
Dylan Davis, aboard Quickick, said his mount became distracted upon turning toward the grandstand, and Quickick never switched leads in the stretch.
“She was a little green,” Davis said. “She was more worried about her surroundings today, not quite like she was at Saratoga. Turning for home, I really thought I was going to catch Manny there, but maybe the sight of the grandstand and everything, she lost a little focus.”
Quietside, passed late in the Spinaway after holding a midstretch lead, has speed but sucked back to fifth before the first turn and appeared to be spinning her wheels before suddenly finding stride with a quarter-mile to run. She was late to switch leads before churning home third, two lengths behind Quickick.
Jockey Luis Saez said he expected his mount to stick closer to the leaders, and that Quietside raced off the bridle going down the backstretch.
Liam in the Dust set sail for the lead but quickly was collared by Rich City Girl, the two zipping a fast half-mile in 46.89. Liam in the Dust dropped back sharply with three furlongs to run, Rich City Girl lasting almost to the homestretch before Immersive swept past.
Immersive, too, raced somewhat greenly, Franco saying the filly looked at the starting gate parked on the outside fence after hitting the front.
“That’s why she pulled herself up a little bit,” he said.
The favorite Friday after going off at double-digit odds in her first two starts, Immersive paid $5.34 while clocking 1:44.64 over a fast and fast-playing main track.
Continuity finished fourth, followed by Sherbini, Rich City Girl, and Liam in the Dust. The Queens M G was an early scratch.
A homebred, Immersive is by Nyquist out of Gap Year, by Bernardini, and is the only Grade 1 winner in her family for three generations.
Cox can’t explain why Immersive was 10-1 first time out and 12-1 in the Spinaway. Odds are, she’s now headed to California with a Breeders’ Cup win and a perfect season in her sites.
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