Keeneland: Casse considering BC Juvenile Fillies for My Conquestadory

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Mark Casse said My Conquestadory, the flashy winner of the Darley Alcibiades Stakes on the opening-day program Friday at Keeneland, will train on dirt for the first time this week as he considers the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies for the unbeaten filly.

To this point, My Conquestadory has trained exclusively on synthetic tracks, which is why Casse said before the Alcibiades that he was more inclined to run her in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf if she ran well in the Alcibiades. My Conquestadory was shipped Saturday to Churchill Downs.

“We’ll probably have [regular rider] Eurico [Rosa Da Silva] fly down and work her once and see what he thinks about how she gets over the dirt,” Casse said. “What we’ll probably end up doing is enter in both races and then make a decision.”

My Conquestadory earned a Win and You’re In berth to either Breeders’ Cup race by virtue of her 1 3/4-length Alcibiades triumph.

Owned by the Conquest Stables of Ernie Semersky and Dory Newell, My Conquestadory earned a 74 Beyer Speed Figure with her last-to-first run in the 1 1/16-mile Polytrack race.

“That number seems a little low to me, but what can you do?” Casse said. “My opinion is that she’s certainly better than that suggests. I’ve seen a lot of good horses, older horses, not be able to overcome what she did. You’re talking about a filly who’d had one start in her life getting pinched back and having nowhere to go for quite a while. For her to finish the way she did, you had to be impressed. I’d said I wanted to run her to get her some experience. I didn’t know I was going to get five races’ worth.”

Gentlemen’s Bet may still try BC

The Phoenix Stakes on Friday probably produced a starter for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint in the winner, Sum of the Parts, as well as the beaten favorite, Gentlemen’s Bet, who labored in his first start over a synthetic surface when finishing fourth in the six-furlong stakes.

Trainer Ron Moquett said he believes owner Harry Rosenthal probably will want to run Gentlemen’s Bet in the BC Sprint at Santa Anita. “I think we could win it,” Moquett said.

Gentlemen’s Bet “really struggled – I mean a lot,” said jockey Mike Smith.

Trainer Tom Amoss said he also would await final word from owners Klaravich Stables and William H. Lawrence as to whether Sum of the Parts will run in the BC Sprint, in which he finished fourth last year. “But if it’s strictly up to me, we’d go,” Amoss said.

Sum of the Parts earned a 100 Beyer, tying the career high he got in the 2012 BC Sprint.

Jessamine draws field of 10

A field of 10 2-year-old fillies is set to clash in the Grade 3, $150,000 Jessamine Stakes when racing resumes Wednesday at Keeneland.

From the hedge, this is the field for the 1 1/16-mile turf race: Shanon Nicole, Courtesan, Kitten Kaboodle, Zip On, Pretty Fancy, Zinzay, Academic Probation, Candy Kitty, Richies Party Girl, and Runway Giant.

The Jessamine is the last of eight Win and You’re In events at this meet for the Nov. 1-2 Breeders’ Cup.

Order of Magnitude euthanized

The first equine fatality of the meet resulted a couple of hours after the fifth race Friday, when Order of Magnitude had to be euthanized due to shattered sesamoids suffered in front of the stands at the end of the race.

Order of Magnitude, a 3-year-old colt owned by Calumet Farm and trained by D. Wayne Lukas, was winless in eight career starts.

In another scary incident two races later, jockey Alan Garcia escaped serious injury when thrown to the turf course shortly past the wire when his mount, One Golden Road, clipped heels in the gallop out. One Golden Road did not fall and was not seriously injured.

◗ Mike Maker, who set a single-season Keeneland record by winning 26 races at the spring meet in April, got off to an inauspicious start to the fall meet when failing to win on the Friday opener.

He had eight starters, four of them favorites, and finished the day with one third and five fourths.