Things get a little less absolute when we turn once again to 2-year-old fillies in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. Thankfully there’s no turf involved here, no matter how “turf resembling” some folks insist the Pro Ride to be.
An extremely competitive looking group of 12 runners was entered for this race, including many of the same faces we discussed in the Juvenile Fillies Turf. Ironically, this race may be even more difficult to handicap when all is said and done.
The entries are as follows:
- Always a Princess
- Beautician
- Bickersons
- Biofuel
- Blind Luck
- Champagne d’Oro
- Connie and Michael
- Devil May Care
- Ms Vanenzza
- Negligee
- She Be Wild
- Zilva
First things first. ZILVA came out as my top selection for the Juvenile FIllies Turf. Given that she’s more used to synthetics one might assume she’d be my selection here as well, right? Not so fast, my friends. The daughter of Successful Appeal has yet to win over the synthetics, which makes her a bit of a riskier play.
Looking at those who have shown the ability to win over the “plastics”, my eyes gravitate towards NEGLIGEE. Here’s a runner who has yet to run in a “clunker” with 3 very good races under her belt. The daughter of Northern Afleet is one of only two runners in this field with a Grade 1 victory over an artificial surface, having prevailed in the Alcibiades at Keeneland on October 9.
Speaking of which, BLIND LUCK is the other runner with a Grade 1 victory on the synthetics, having taken the Oak Leaf at Santa Anita on October 4. I think you have to key on these two efforts , although by virtue of being lightly raced (and not that far behind developmentally), many of the challengers in here could be very tough.
We get the 2nd, 4th, and 5th place finishers from the Alcibiades to go along with NEGLIGEE. SHE BE WILD finished 2nd beaten by a 1/2 length that day. The aforementioned ZILVA was 4th, with BEUTICIAN rounding out in 5th.
Looking back at the Oak Leaf, we have the 2nd and 3rd place finishers to go along with the champion coming back for more. ALWAYS A PRINCESS wound up finishing 2nd to BLIND LUCK, beaten by 2 1/2 lengths after leading the field into the stretch. BICKERSONS was closing fast and just missed ALWAYS A PRINCESS by a neck at the wire.
With that in mind, it’s worth noting that ALWAYS A PRINCESS could get loose on the lead again in the BC Juvenile Fillies – depending on what CONNIE AND MICHAEL attempts.
In all likelihood, your winner will come from either the Oak Leaf or Alcibiades fields earlier in the year, as those appear to be the major prep races. That being said, BEAUTICIAN, BIO FUEL, and DEVIL MAY CARE have taken slightly different paths and cannot be discounted easily.
Ultimately, I’m siding with BLIND LUCK here due to her proven ability over the Pro Ride at the 1 1/16 mile distance. I like NEGLIGEE quite a bit though and would not be shocked if she wound up in the winner’s circle. Of the rest, I think BEUATICIAN could be a sneaky horse to use in the exotics as many bettors might dismiss her as being more of a dirt horse despite the fact that she was “blocked” and “steadied” in her only synthetic effort (an all things considered not-so-bad 5th place finish in the Alcibiades).
Selections:
- Blind Luck
- Negligee
- Beuatician
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