Juveniles look to break out in Debutante, Bashford Manor

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Quite a few 2-year-old maiden races at Churchill Downs this spring have produced eye-catching winners, and as the meet closes Saturday, it’s time to line some of them up together and see what gives.

The Debutante Stakes for fillies and the Grade 3 Bashford Manor for 2-year-olds will be run back-to-back on a Stephen Foster card as races 8 and 9, respectively. The 120th runnings of both six-furlong races with $150,000 purses could go a long way in determining what’s in store for the second half of the year in the 2-year-old ranks at other major venues.

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The Debutante leads off the last pick five of the meet and the Bashford Manor starts the last pick four. Here’s a look at each:

Debutante

Besides a half-dozen last-out winners at Churchill, the Debutante field also includes four fillies whose maiden victories came elsewhere, including one, Wicked Halo, with the biggest Beyer Speed Figure. Since debuting with an 81 three Saturdays ago at Lone Star Park, trainer Steve Asmussen has promoted Wicked Halo into his first string.

“She’s a lovely filly who seems to have a lot of quality to her,” said Asmussen. “This should be a good test for her. She sure ran well in her only start, and the good thing is she should do better the farther they go and with more time.”

Jose Ortiz will be aboard Wicked Halo when she breaks from post 1, just as she did in her two-length front-running score in Texas. The gray daughter of Gun Runner is one of two Asmussen runners in here, along with Tizplenty (post, 3 Ricardo Santana Jr.).

Tiz Plenty, a June 4 maiden winner at Churchill, “is already a seasoned filly coming out of a couple of fast races,” he said.

Ontheonesandtwos (post 8, Florent Geroux), who defeated Tizplenty when both fillies were making their first start May 13, clearly is a major threat to the uncoupled Asmussen pair. Norm Casse trains Ontheonesandtwos for Deuce Greathouse and Cindy Hutson.

Other considerations in a field of depth include Cartel Queen, Mollie Kate, and Behave Virginia, all of them sharp maiden-special winners over the local surface.

First run in 1895, the Debutante has been won by such standouts as Alcibiades (1929), Bewitch (1947), and Silverbulletday (1998). It was last run in 2019, when Asmussen won it for the fifth time with Magic Dance. The race was left off a 2020 stakes schedule abbreviated by the pandemic.

Bashford Manor

Some 30 minutes after the Debutante, Casse will saddle Glacial against another Asmussen duo, Vodka N Water and Red Run. The Bashford Manor became a point of discussion for Glacial even before the Frosted colt was cooled out following a gutsy May 29 debut win.

“Going into the race we didn’t have him 100 percent cranked,” said Casse. “He got away poorly and had to rush up, but he was still able to beat a couple of nice horses, so we were very impressed with that. He’s one that figures to get better as the races get longer, too.”

Glacial will break from post 4 with Joe Talamo back aboard.

Vodka N Water (post 1, Ortiz) is still a maiden but has been second in all three starts, including in the Kentucky Juvenile during Kentucky Derby week. Red Run (post 9, Santana) is one of three in here to have won a maiden-special at Churchill.

Unlike in the Debutante, which drew four starters with a 71 Beyer or higher, the collective Beyer threshold for this field of 11 is substantially lower. Only one starter, Double Thunder (post 8, John Velazquez), has posted anything as high as 60, which the Super Saver colt earned by winning at first asking at Monmouth Park three weeks ago for Todd Pletcher. Surely a much higher Beyer will be required to win this.

Run every year since 1902, when Von Rouse prevailed under the legendary Jimmy Winkfield, the Bashford Manor counts Black Gold (1923), Summer Squall (1989), and Favorite Trick (1997) among its prior winners. Asmussen won it for a record sixth time last year when Cazadero prevailed under Santana.