Sweet Melania faces tough group in Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf

ARCADIA, Calif. – It is highly doubtful Sweet Melania will win Friday’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita in the stylish manner she won the Grade 2 Jessamine Stakes at Keeneland on Oct. 9.

Sweet Melania was always near the front and stormed clear under jockey Jose Ortiz to win the Jessamine by 5 1/2 lengths.

“That was an authoritative win on the grass,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “She really gave him that turn of foot.”

In the $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf, Sweet Melania faces a far stronger field and will need a career-best effort to beat 10 other stakes winners in a field of 14.

Sweet Melania, an American Pharoah filly who races for Robert and Lawana Low, drew post 12 in the one-mile race, which Pletcher described as “not ideal” on Tuesday. He is banking on the filly’s experience around two turns – her second in the P.G. Johnson Stakes at Saratoga and the win in the Jessamine – to provide the necessary experience to overcame the post.

“It’s important to establish some position on the first turn,” he said. “You could be concerned about the 23-day turnaround, but she gives us all the right indications.”

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Sweet Melania is likely to be near the front in a race loaded with fillies who typically race from just off the pace.

Abscond and Fair Maiden, first and third in the Grade 1 Natalma Stakes at a mile around one turn at Woodbine on Sept. 15, are likely to be near the front, as will Sharing, who won the Selima Stakes at 1 1/16 miles around two turns at Laurel on Sept. 21.

Fair Maiden will be fitted with blinkers for the first time on Friday. She ran erratically through the stretch of the Natalma and was beaten a neck by Abscond. Trained by Eoin Harty, Fair Maiden will start from post 10.

“I should be able to move over, but I don’t want to be on the front too soon,” Harty said. “Hopefully, the blinkers will make the difference.”

The leading stalkers include Selflessly, who won the Grade 2 Miss Grillo Stakes at Belmont Park on Sept. 29, and two outstanding fillies from Europe – Albigna, who won the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac at Longchamp on Oct. 6, and Daahyeh, who won the Group 2 Rockfel Stakes at Newmarket Racecourse in England on Sept. 27.

Crystalle may be farther back than those runners in the first half-mile. She won the P.G. Johnson Stakes and was a fast-closing second in the Miss Grillo, a loss that frustrated trainer John Kimmel. Joel Rosario rode Crystalle in the Miss Grillo and has the mount on Friday.

“The pace was moderate,” Kimmel said. “He left her with too much to do.”

A fast pace would help Crystalle on Friday, but she must have a trouble-free trip, Kimmel said.

“There are pluses and minuses,” Kimmel said. “You’ll get a better pace scenario, but you can’t get that start and stop. It should be a good setup.”

The manner in which Daahyeh stormed through the uphill finish at Newmarket to win the Rockfel prompted trainer Roger Varian to plan a trip to California. This will be Daahyeh’s first start at a mile.

Daahyeh won her second group stakes in the Rockfel at seven furlongs. She ran second in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes at seven furlongs at the Curragh in Ireland on Sept. 15, finishing three-quarters of a length behind the well-regarded filly Love.

“I think the way she galloped out at The Curragh and won the Rockfel, they are both tough tracks,” Varian said. “She should get the distance.”

A foreign-trained filly has not won the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf since 2013. Varian respects Albigna, who was sixth in the Moyglare Stud when she was in season, trainer Jessica Harrington said recently. Albigna’s win in the Prix Marcel Boussac at a mile on soft turf was her third win in four starts.

“She’s a Group 1 winner,” Varian said of Albigna. “Of the European challengers, I think Albigna is a standout on form.”

Daahyeh has a favorable draw in post 5. The draw was not kind to Selflessly, who will start from post 13 in her attempt to give trainer Chad Brown a record sixth win in the Juvenile Fillies Turf. Brown has won the last three runnings.

“It’s a brutal post in 13,” Brown said.

Selflessly was second in a maiden special weight race at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf at Saratoga in her debut in August. She closed from third in a field of eight from an outside post to win the Miss Grillo at 1 1/16 miles by three-quarters of a length over Crystalle.

“She’s rapidly improving,” Brown said. “She started to show herself at Saratoga in mid-August. The last 60 days she’s really grown physically and has gotten stronger in her training.”

“I think she’s custom-made for a mile on firm ground.”