The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies race is Friday at Santa Anita Park. It is run on the dirt at a distance of 1 mile & 1/16th. It is race seven on the card, with a scheduled Post Time of 5:32 Eastern Time. The contest has a purse of 2 million dollars.
Here then is a look at the field of nine:
#1 DONNA VELOCE [ML 3-1] Jockey: Flavien Prat. Trainer: Simon Callaghan. She is very interesting. Had her debut Win on this surface. Seemingly wants to go longer. She is sneaky good and submitted a huge penultimate work that has made her the buzz horse around Santa Anita. But in this type of race you must demand Value, and she won’t be offering any.
#2 TWO SIXTY [ML 15-1] Jockey: Edgar Zayas. Trainer: Mark Casse. She exploded onto the scene with the runaway performance against Florida- breds. Faces tougher group here but it would be unwise not to cover this Casse-trained filly in the Win spot. Offers the best running line of any filly in the race but makes the toughest surface switch going from a hard/dry Gulfstream Park surface to the deep surface at Santa Anita.
#3 PERFECT ALIBI [ML 10-1] Jockey: Irad Ortiz Jr. Trainer: Mark Casse. Will get the pressured pace set up she needs. This Filly has not missed the Exacta in 5 career starts. Is in an alternating performance pattern with a new top projected. Deadly when sprinting but a 2-turn route is questionable.
#4 BRITISH IDIOM [ML 7-2] Jockey: Javiar Castellano. Trainer: Brad Cox. She’s coming off the exceptional performance in the G1 Alcibiades Stakes, in which she had a strong gallop out. Lays out energy in that ideal balanced way. She is another with a forward move projected.
#5 LAZY DAISY [ML 12-1] Jockey: Rafael Bejarano. Trainer: Doug O’Neil. The 2019 edition of the G2 Pocahontas Stakes came up pretty weak and it was a merry-go-round race in which the top 3 finishers ran around the track together. This Filly dueled with HIS GLORY throughout and finished just okay.
#6 BAST [ML 7-2] Jockey: John Velazquez. Trainer: Bob Baffert. Hard to find any knocks with this Baffert-trained Filly. Pressed a very slow pace last time out but overcame that with a huge final furlong. Has raced well on this course previously. A big move forward is projected.
#7 WICKED WHISPER [ML 7-2] Jockey: Joel Rosario. Trainer: Steve Asmussen. Was very impressive in Winning the always-important, Frizette Stakes at Belmont Park, going wire-to-wire while laying out ideal 95+ Pace/Speed Rating figures throughout and in hand at the end.
#8 K P DREAMIN [ML 20-1] Jockey: Ruben Fuentes. Trainer: Jeff Mullins. Gets an ideal pressured pace set up for her late kick unlike her last race. Has that huge advantage of experience on the deep Santa Anita and Del Mar surfaces. Form cycle analysis projects a big move forward.
#9 COMICAL [ML 8-1] Jockey: Abel Cedillo. Trainer: Doug O’Neil. Had an absolute ideal set up last out but could not out-kick #6 BAST in the final furlong in what turned out to be a 2-furlong sprint race. Faces a much different and taxing pace set up here. But does have the Santa Anita track experience.
Summary
At the Daily Racing Blog we are always in search of Value. So we realize we will find none using the Morning Line favorite #1 DONNA VELOCE. There are three horses at 7-2 odds and we feel the best one of that group is #6 BAST. Our top long-shot at odds of 20-1 is #8 KP DREAMIN.
The Play
DRB will use both the #6 and 8 as our key horse in a Trifecta with several horses in the second and third spots. So our ticket will read; 6-8 with 2-4-6-7-8-9 with 2-4-6-7-8-9. We will also do an Exacta Box with #2-4-6-8, and Win bets on the 2 and 8.
Best of luck no matter how you play it.
On Friday the Daily Racing Blog will take a look at Saturday’s 6 million dollar Breeders’ Cup Classic.
