Walk In Marrakesh picks up Dettori for Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf

ARCADIA, Calif. - Walk In Marrakesh will have Frankie Dettori aboard when she starts as a longshot in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 1, new trainer Ignacio Correas said on Thursday.

Dettori rode Walk In Marrakesh to a win in the Star Stakes at Sandown Park in England in July.

Dettori, 48, is the regular rider of the star European filly Enable and has won a personal-best 18 Group 1 races this year, and 250 Group 1 or Grade 1 races in his career. The latest came aboard Star Catcher at Ascot, England, last Saturday.

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Walk In Marrakesh, owned by Merriebelle Stable, joined Correas’s Keeneland-based stable in late September, shortly after she finished second in her North American debut in the Grade 1 Natalma Stakes at a mile on turf at Woodbine on Sept. 15. Jamie Spencer rode Walk In Marrakesh at Woodbine.

The $1 million BC Juvenile Fillies Turf is run at a mile on turf.

Correas said he has spent the last month getting to know Walk In Marrakesh.

“What they said is she loves the firm ground and that is one of the reasons we hope this will be a good spot for her,” Correas said. “She’s doing very well for us. Everything we have asked, she has done well.”

Walk In Marrakesh was beaten a nose in the Natalma by Abscond after setting the pace. Abscond and Fair Maiden, who was third in the Natalma, are pre-entered for the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf.

An Irish-bred by Siyouni, Walk In Marrakesh was previously trained by Mark Johnston in England. The filly has won 3 of 6 starts. Walk In Marrakesh was third of four in the Group 2 Prix du Calvados at Deauville, France, on Aug. 17.