Juvenile Fillies: Country Star no go

Country Star will not advance to the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, while Irish Smoke will be pre-entered in the race in the biggest developments to come out of last weekend's Grade 1 Alcibiades at Keeneland. Country Star won her maiden in the race and Irish Smoke finished 10th as the favorite, one start removed from her score in the Grade 1 Spinaway.

Irish Smoke was racing around two turns for the first time in the Alcibiades. It was also her first start on Polytrack.

"She came out of the race very good," Patrick Biancone, who trains Irish Smoke, said Tuesday. "We think she did not handle the Polytrack at all. The position of my clients is we are going to pre-enter her, and we'll decide later.

"We are 50-50 at this time. If she trains great, we may take a shot."

Pre-entries are Monday.

Country Star closed for a one-length win. In her only other start, she was second to Backseat Rhythm in a maiden special weight on turf Sept. 20. Backseat Rhythm went on to finish second in the Grade 1 Frizette.

"She's not running in the Breeders' Cup," said Bobby Frankel, who trains Country Star. "I think it's a big task. She just ran two weeks apart, and I don't feel like running her back in three weeks."

A to the Croft, who was second in the Alcibiades, is on schedule for the Juvenile Fillies, according to her trainer, Ken McPeek.

"She's a filly with a lot of class," he said, "so you've got to give her a chance."

Earlier this year, A to the Croft ran second in both the Spinaway and the Grade 2 Adirondack. She will start as a top choice in the Juvenile Fillies, while the Bob Baffert-trained pair of Indian Blessing, who won the Frizette last Saturday, and Cry and Catch Me, winner of the Oak Leaf, could vie for favoritism.

Silk Ridge will run Saturday at Calder in the $400,000 My Dear Girl, the last leg of the Florida Stallion Stakes series. A decision on the Breeders' Cup will follow, said her trainer, Gordon Potter.

"We're just holding off until after the Stallion Stakes," he said. "Then, we've only got two weeks, and we'll make up our minds. We think she's going to run real big, so that's why we're keeping the Breeders' Cup in mind."