The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf looks to be captured by a different owner than in the past two years, as the most recent editions of the race have been won by eFive Racing — with New Money Honey winning in 2016 and Rushing Fall last year.
But trainer Chad Brown can win three in a row should top contender Newspaperofrecord or the less-heralded Dogtag hit the wire first on Nov. 2 at Churchill Downs.
As part of the Breeders’ Cup newly formatted “Future Stars Friday”, the Juvenile Fillies Turf will be contested at one mile, with entries running for their share of a $1 million purse in the Grade I event.
Four victorious fillies of “Win And You’re In Races” are assured of a gate in the race: Concrete Rose, Just Wonderful, La Pelosa and Lily’s Candle. A fifth WAYI winner, Skitter Scatter, will bypass the Breeders’ Cup, per her trainer.
The following are possible contenders for the Juvenile Fillies Turf, along with their sires, damsires, trainers, jockeys, racing records and notes on how they have fared on various turf conditions:
| HORSE | SIRE | DAMSIRE | TRAINER | LAST JOCKEY | RECORD* | OFF-TURF |
| Beyond Reason | Australia | Azamour | Charlie Appleby | William Buick | 7-3-1-0 $149k | won twice on “soft” turf |
| Carnival Colors | Distorted Humor | Street Sense | Michael Stidham | Luis Contreras | 3-1-1-1 $42k | never raced on turf |
| Concrete Rose*** | Twirling Candy | Powerscourt | George Arnold II | Jose Lezcano | 2-2-0-0 $166k | won on “good” turf |
| Dogtag | War Front | Unbridled’s Song | Chad Brown | Javier Castellano | 3-1-0-1 $77k | won on “yielding” turf |
| East | Frankel | Indian Ridge | Kevin Ryan | Stephane Pasquier | 2-2-0-0 $53k | won on “soft” and “good” |
| Just Wonderful*** | Dansili | Montjeu | Aiden O’Brien | Ryan Moore | 6-3-0-1 $148k | all races on “good” turf |
| Hermosa (IRE) | Galileo | Pivotal | Aiden O’Brien | Donnacha O’Brien | 6-2-2-1 $247k | won on “soft” and “good” |
| La Pelosa*** | Dandy Man | Bushranger | Charlie Appleby | Jamie Spencer | 6-2-2-1 $169k | 2nd on “soft” two back |
| Lady Prancealot | Sir Prancealot | Haatef | Richard Baltas | Joe Talamo | 7-1-3-1 $52k | 3rd on “heavy” |
| Lakerball | Lakerville | Capsized | Doug O’Neill | Mario Gutierrez | 4-2-0-1 $84k | firm only turf start |
| Lily’s Candle (FR)*** | Style Vendome | Dolphin Street | Fabrice Vermeulen | Pierre-Charles Boudot | 5-3-0-0 $317k | won on “soft” turf |
| Lonely Road | Quality Road | Broken Vow | Christophe Clement | David Cohen | 4-2-0-0 $135k | won on “good” only turf start |
| My Gal Betty | Point of Entry | Mining | Roger Attfield | Rafael Hernandez | 4-2-1-1 $121k | won on “yielding” turf |
| Newspaperofrecord | Lope de Vega | Holy Roman Emporer | Chad Brown | Irad Ortiz Jr. | 2-2-0-0 $156k | “yielding” in both starts |
| Pakhet | Cairo Prince | Hard Spun | Todd Pletcher | John Velazquez | 3-1-1-0 $84k | won on “yielding” turf |
| Pivottina | Vision D’etat | Pivotal | Graham Motion | Joel Rosario | 5-1-2-0 $50k | won on “soft” turf |
| Pretty Pollyanna | Oasis Dream | Shamardal | Michael L. Bell | Danny Tudhope | 6-3-0-1 $344k | won on “good” turf |
| So Perfect | Scat Daddy | Songandaprayer | Aiden O’Brien | Seamie Heffernan | 6-2-1-1 $165k | won on “yielding” |
| Splashy Kisses | Blame | Cherokee Run | Doug O’Neill | Drayden Van Dyke | 3-1-1-1 $73k | never raced on turf |
| Stellar Agent | More Than Ready | Medaglia d’Oro | Jorge Abreu | Manny Franco | 2-1-0-1 $70k | won on “good”, 3rd on “yielding” |
| Summering | War Front | Indian Charlie | Thomas Proctor | Drayden Van Dyke | 3-2-0-1 $108k | all races on firm turf |
| The Mackem Bullet | Society Rock | Trade Fair | Brian Ellison | Oisin Murphy | 6-1-2-2 $164k | all races on “good” turf |
| Varenka | Ghostzapper | Dynaformer | Graham Motion | John Velazquez | 3-0-2-1 $64k | 2nd on “yielding” twice |
| Zagitova (IRE) | Galileo | Kyllachy | Aiden O’Brien | Seamie Heffernan | 5-1-1-1 $66k | won on “good” turf |
Note: Earnings rounded down to nearest thousand.
*** Win And You’re In” race winner.
None of these freshman fillies have run on the Churchill Downs turf course. Splashy Kisses finished second in the Grade II Pocahontas which was run at a mile and a sixteenth on the Churchill main track.
None of the contenders in the Juvenile Fillies Turf will be racing off a more than 48-day layoff.
The inside posts (1-3) are favorable in turf races at a mile at Churchill Downs.
Javier Castellano is the only jockey to win multiple editions of this race since it debuted in 2008, as he has won the last two. Brown has been the trainer of record of four of the ten previous Juvenile Filly Turf races, including winning three of the last four.
The following are some videos of the major contenders, including the winners of WAYI races:
LA PELOSA
CONCRETE ROSE
NEWSPAPEROFRECORD
LILY’S CANDLE
PRETTY POLLYANNA
Related
Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint
Ryan Dickey is a full-time firefighter in Dearborn, MI, and a life-long horse racing fan. He is a handicapper and contributor to prominent horse racing Websites as well as a freelance sportswriter/photojournalist. He covers local high school sports and community events for multiple outlets, including bi-weekly newspapers and has over 200 works published to date.
Having lived in Las Vegas for six years and working in the sports gaming industry, Ryan knows sports handicapping from “both sides of the counter.” Feel free to contact him on Twitter (@rdickey249) for questions, comments, criticisms, or critiques.