Travel decisions for next year on hold for Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Newspaperofrecord

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The 2-year-old filly Newspaperofrecord possesses the equine equivalent of a Roman nose. When she walks around the shed row her right hind hoof audibly clips her right front hoof. In the barn the filly might be less than ideal, but out on the racetrack she has so far been perfect.

Newspaperofrecord ran her record to three wins from three starts Friday with tour de force in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. Newspaperofrecord won her debut, a Saratoga maiden race, by 6 ¾ lengths, won the Grade 2 Miss Grillo at Belmont by 6 ½, and was back out to a 6 ¾-length win margin Friday after leading all the way.

“I’m the queen of the world!” the filly might as well have shouted, just down the road from the neighborhood where Muhammed Ali grew up.

Will Newspaperofrecord try to conquer the world? Or will the boundaries of her domain be constrained by the borders of the United States? That is the question trainer Chad Brown will be asked countless times through coming months. More and more Americans are lured by the siren song of the Royal Ascot meeting in June, but so far, Brown has resisted. The Royal Ascot race for a 3-year-old filly like Newspaperofrecord is the Group 1 Coronation Stakes, but run in that and there’s not time to come back in the $1 million Belmont Oaks at Brown’s home track.

There’s ample food for thought but plenty of time to digest it. Newspaperofrecord, Brown confirmed Saturday morning, won’t start again this year. Brown said it’s unlikely she’ll have a spell away from the racetrack but the filly, an Irish-bred by the European stallion Lope De Vega, will get some down time and ship to Florida. “We’ll just get her down there and see where we go,” Brown said.

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Newspaperofrecord ran one mile on a tiring, loose turf course in 1:39, 1.06 faster than it took Line of Duty to win the BC Juvenile Turf two races later. She earned a 96 Beyer Speed Figure, a career best and the fastest number Friday among the five Breeders’ Cup races for 2-year-olds. And when someone talks about a horse “winning easy,” they should use this performance as a template. Newspaperofrecord was going so strongly and comfortably down the backstretch that the race looked over at the half-mile pole.

“She ran terrific,” said Brown. “I couldn’t have asked for anything better. Once she broke clean from the gate and established her position I felt pretty good about it.”

The only battle Newspaperofrecord has left to fight this year is the one for champion 2-year-old filly. She’s up against Jaywalk, who has the Grade 1 Frizette and the BC Juvenile Fillies atop her record. Jaywalk turned in an impressive showing Friday, but – news flash! – her turf counterpart still got many of the headlines.