Wonder Gadot, Dixie Moon headed to Breeders' Cup

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Two locally based 2-year-old fillies are heading off to Del Mar for the Breeders’ Cup following stakes wins here two weekends ago.

Wonder Gadot, who was a six-length winner of the Grade 3 Mazarine Stakes on Tapeta on Oct. 7, will run in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on dirt, while Dixie Moon, who beat males in the Cup and Saucer Stakes on turf on Oct. 8, will run in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.

Trainer Mark Casse said Wonder Gadot has already shipped to Churchill Downs to begin preparations for the Breeders’ Cup with his other hopefuls.

“We have five at Churchill and two at Keeneland,” he said. “She’s going to breeze, and if everything goes as planned, she’s going to run in the dirt race.”

Wonder Gadot has made two starts on turf and one on Tapeta in her three starts, all at Woodbine, but Casse said she trained regularly on the dirt ahead of her career debut in Ocala, Fla., and at Saratoga.

“We believe that the turf is her least-preferred surface,” he said. “When I sent her up there, I wasn’t sure about the turf. The problem with Saratoga is they run a bunch of short sprints on the dirt, and I knew that would not suit her at all. She’s a big, long-striding filly that needs some ground. If you ever watch her run, she gallops out like crazy. I knew if I left her at Saratoga she’d be behind the eight ball.”

Dixie Moon, meanwhile, will ship to Louisville at the end of the month before flying to Del Mar for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf for trainer Catherine Day Phillips and owner-breeders Sean and Dorothy Fitzhenry.

“We loved Dixie back in the summer,” Day Phillips said. “We always thought she was that quality of a filly. It seems crazy with a horse that hasn’t run, but she always has shown a lot of ability and we’ve always thought very highly of her.”

Dixie Moon won her career debut over seven furlongs on Tapeta and followed that up with a runner-up finish behind Capla Temptress in the Grade 1 Natalma Stakes on Sept. 17. She made all the running in the Cup and Saucer Stakes, defeating Strike Me Down by a length, while earning a career-best 75 Beyer Speed Figure.

Day Phillips said the connections made a final decision on the Breeders’ Cup over the weekend.

“Watching her this past week, she’s done really well,” she said. “She seems to be thriving with racing, so I think it’s a pretty special opportunity to run a homebred.”