Janeian must pace herself

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Trainer Bret Calhoun believes Janeian is a different mare than she was last year - and last year she was very good. This year, he says, she is better.

Calhoun's theory will be battle-tested Sunday, when takes on Aud, Due to Win Again, and Cherylville Slew in the $100,000 Yellow Rose Breeders' Cup at Lone Star Park.

A 1 1/8-mile turf race for fillies and mares, the Yellow Rose will share a card with the $100,000 Middleground Breeders' Cup. The Middleground is for 2-year-olds, and it will be televised on ESPN.

The conditions of the Yellow Rose and Middleground are designed to correspond with two of the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Champ-ionship races to be run here Oct. 30. As a result, they could produce starters for either the Filly and Mare Turf or the Juvenile.

Janeian, who was bred in New Zealand, is not Breeders' Cup eligible, and as a result will be racing for a purse of $75,000 on Sunday. She will be looking for her fourth win over the Lone Star course after taking two allowance races on it last year and the $75,000 Irving Distaff in April.

"She's a much better racehorse this year than she was last year because she's learned how to run," said Calhoun. "She's learned how to rate and relax in her races."

After the spring meet at Lone Star, Janeian went on to capture the Grade 3 Royale Heroine at Hollywood Park. She faces two new challenges Sunday. She has not raced in the 60 days since her fourth-place finish in the Grade 3 Matchmaker at Monmouth on Aug. 8, and she will be racing over a distance that in the past has been beyond her grasp.

"We never wanted to look for a mile and an eighth race necessarily for her, but it's on a surface that she really likes," said Calhoun. "And we intentionally gave her two months between her last race and this one. She was flat when she ran at Monmouth. I think she was a little tired because she had traveled so much."

Calhoun said he hopes Janeian's willingness to rate will help her get the added distance Sunday.

"Last year, I would have never wanted to try the mile and an eighth," he said. "This year, I think she's got a much better chance."

Aud last raced at Saratoga, finishing fourth in the Grade 3 Glens Falls Handicap. Before that race, she was seventh, beaten less than three lengths, in the Grade 1 Beverly D. Calvin Borel has the mount for trainer Tony Reinstedler.