Quality Rocks lukewarm favorite in Jessamine Stakes
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The eighth and last Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In event at the Keeneland fall meet will kick off the first five-day week of racing action when a field of nine 2-year-old fillies lines up Wednesday in the Grade 3, $150,000 Jessamine Stakes.
An action-packed Fall Stars opening weekend already gave expenses-paid berths to the 31st Breeders’ Cup to seven winners. The last one figures to come hard earned, given how well matched the Jessamine appears to shape up.
None of the nine are easy tosses in this 1 1/16-mile turf race, a qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. Lukewarm favoritism might go to the unbeaten and newly acquired Quality Rocks, whose triumph in the Sept. 6 Arlington-Washington Lassie makes her the only stakes winner in the field. Bill Mott has assumed her training since she was privately purchased off two impressive victories, both on synthetic, to start her career.
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Keeneland oddsmaker Mike Battaglia has made Quality Rocks the 7-2 program favorite, while six of her opponents are listed between 4-1 and 8-1, illustrating the depth of the race.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 4 Quality Rocks. Trainer Bill Mott is 17-1-2-3 with a $0.27 ROI over the past five years in graded stakes on the Keeneland turf course. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Chad Brown, who won the Jessamine last year with Kitten Kaboodle for Ken and Sarah Ramsey, has one of the main contenders in Fila Primera, a winner of her only start.
This is the 24th running of the Jessamine, which is carded as the eighth of nine races on a Wednesday card that also includes two allowances (races 7 and 9). First post is 1:05 p.m. Eastern, with the Jessamine set for 4:42.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 6 Cool Comfort. Trainer Wesley Ward is 13-0-0-1 over the past five years with horses stretching from sprints to routes in graded stakes. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
KEY CONTENDERS
Quality Rocks (Last 2 Beyers: 77-76)
◗ Clearly, the move from synthetic to turf and the stretch-out to two turns are the biggest questions surrounding a Florida-bred who was based at Presque Isle Downs with Bill Helmbrecht this summer, when emerging as a filly with a future. Since the acquisition, she has had three half-mile breezes at Churchill Downs for Mott’s top assistant, Kenny McCarthy.
Fila Primera (Last Beyer: 65)
◗ Brown, the former Bobby Frankel assistant, continues to do fabulous work with turf horses, and the fact that he has sent this filly here from New York (and Javier Castellano makes his first appearance of this meet) says something about her potential.
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Walking the Kitten (Last Beyer: 62)
◗ This Ramsey homebred came strongly touted in her career debut three Wednesdays ago at Kentucky Downs for Mike Maker and did not disappoint, drawing off to prevail at a $4.60 mutuel. Maker also has a second Jessamine starter in Magnificent Margo, owned by Jeff Drown.
Rainha Da Bateria (Last 2 Beyers: 65-68)
◗ A decent fourth as one of the favorites in the P.G. Johnson Stakes on the Saratoga turf, this filly will be ridden by Joel Rosario, who will continue to ride here daily through Saturday before returning to New York. Rosario also is scheduled to ride here one more day, Oct. 17.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 9 Rainha Da Bateria. Trainer Graham Motion is 16-3-1-1 with a $5.11 ROI over the past two years in graded stakes on the Keeneland turf course. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan