My Miss Aurelia, Dreaming of Julia retired from racing

ELMONT, N.Y. – My Miss Aurelia, the champion 2-year-old filly of 2011, and Dreaming of Julia, a Grade 1-winning filly of 2012, have been retired from racing, owner Barbara Banke said Wednesday. Breeding plans for both have yet to be decided.

My Miss Aurelia, a daughter of Smart Strike out of the dam My Miss Storm Cat, had a record of 6-2-3 from 11 starts, with earnings of $2,547,000. At age 2, when trained by Steve Asmussen, My Miss Aurelia won all four of her races, including the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and Grade 1 Frizette, and was crowned the 2-year-old filly champion.

At 3, My Miss Aurelia won the Grade 1 Cotillion – her sixth consecutive victory – before finishing second to Royal Delta in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic (now the Distaff). Physical issues impeded her campaigns at 4 and 5. In two starts this year for trainer Todd Pletcher, My Miss Aurelia finished third in the Shine Again Stakes and second in the Grade 1 Ballerina, both at Saratoga.

“She’s done enough. She’s very happy. I’m showing her pictures of various dates,” Banke, the proprietor of Stonestreet Farms, said Friday at Belmont Park. “We wanted to let her down, be a horse, and be happy, and she is.”

Dreaming of Julia, the winner of the Frizette in 2012 and a 21 3/4-length winner of the Grade 2 Gulfstream Oaks in 2013, was retired after tearing a tendon earlier this year, Banke said.

Dreaming of Julia, a daughter of Grade 1 winners A.P. Indy and Dream Rush, had a record of 4-2-1 from eight starts, with earnings of $874,500. In her last race, she finished second in the Grade 1 Mother Goose Stakes in June 2013.

In addition to her victories in the Frizette and Gulfstream Oaks, Dreaming of Julia won the Meadow Star Stakes at Belmont by 16 1/4 lengths.

Banke said both fillies are at Stonestreet Farm in Kentucky.