The first of two grass events on Friday was the $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1), for 2-year-old fillies going 1 mile on the turf at Santa Anita. Like all juvenile races at the 2012 Championships, all race-day medications are prohibited. Sky Lantern was sent off as the 5-2 favorite in the full field of 14, off her win in the Moyglare Stud (G1) in Ireland. In to challenge her included 7-2 second choice Spring Venture, winner of the Natalma (G2) and Mazarine (G3) at Woodbine, and 6-1 third choice Watsdachances, winner of the P.G. Johnson and Miss Grillo (G3).
Flotilla (far left) rallies from 9th place in the stretch
Jockey John Velazquez sent 15-1 Tara From the Cape to a clear lead through fractions of 23.14, 47.39, and 1:11.16 over the firm course, while stalked by 38-1 Moonwalk. Entering the lane, Tara From the Cape continued to lead, getting 7/8 in 1:23.17, but 11-1 Flotilla, 9th early, came through between horses to win by 1 1/4 lengths over Watsdachances in 1:34.64. It was another 1/2 length back to 43-1 Summer of Fun third, while favorite Sky Lantern checked in 8th.
Flotilla wins the Juvenile Fillies Turf
Pgm Horse Jockey Win Place Show
4 Flotilla Lemaire 24.80 10.80 7.80
6 Watsdachances Castellano 6.40 5.40
2 Summer of Fun Dominguez 19.40
Winning Time: 1:34.64
$1 Exacta 4-6 85.50
$1 Trifecta 4-6-2 1,791.50
$1 Superfecta 4-6-2-8 19,875.40
Left: Flotilla in the winner's circle. Thierry Delegue, representing owner Sheikh Mohammed Al Thani said, "I don't know if she would like the tight turns, but the tight turns help her to relax and we felt she might be better on fast ground. I wouldn't say it was a long term target. We were happy with our race in Longchamp, she was a little bit unlucky, but the way she won was quite impressive and she was keen on coming to America, so we decided we should have a try."
Right: Flotilla heads back to the barn in her winner's blanket. Jockey Christophe Lemaire said, "The first thing was to relax her may be in the middle of the field and she was still a little bit on the bridle because of the slow pace, but she was racing very well, so I was not worried in the last turn because I knew she would be able to react very well down the stretch."
Left: Second place finisher Watsdachances returns after the race. Jockey Javier Castellano said, “We had a great trip. She ran really hard. She was tracking behind the leaders, and when I asked her to go, she put in her run. There are no excuses. She was second-best today. Sometimes that’s just the way it is.” Trainer Chad Brown added, “I thought she ran great. I thought Javier gave her a good ride and he got the running room he needed turning for home. She was second-best. I was real proud of the way she ran.”
Right: Third place finisher Summer of Fun in the post parade. Trainer George Weaver said, “I knew she was better than 40-1. She finished third in her last start at Keeneland and we knew we had to step our game up. I wasn’t surprised that she finished third and wouldn’t have been surprised if she won. She will continue to get better.”
Eighth place finisher and beaten favorite Sky Lantern in the post parade. Jockey Richard Hughes said, “I had plenty of horse. Just nowhere to go. Usually in these kind of races, something will open up, but today there was no hole at all.”
Breeders' Cup Saturday Results - There were 9 races Saturday highlighted by the $5 million Classic where American Pharoah was an impressive winner in his final start before retiring to stud. Also on the card, Found won the Turf, Nyquist won the Juvenile, and Tepin won the Mile. Get the results, charts, and photos for all 9 races here. Get more photos and comments for each race here.
Breeders' Cup Friday Results - There were 4 races Friday highlighted by the Distaff where Stopchargingmaria won by a neck over Stellar Wind and the Dirt Mile won by Liam's Map. Get the results, charts, and photos for all 4 races here.
Thursday Breeders' Cup Photos - Photos and comments for 38 horses out on Thursday morning at Keeneland on both the main and training tracks, including American Pharoah. Beholder was also out, but was found to have bled when scoped and is scratched from the Classic.
Wednesday Breeders' Cup Photos - Photos and comments for 46 horses out on a very rainy Wednesday morning at Keeneland on both the main and training tracks, including Keen Ice, Frosted, and Golden Horn. No American Pharoah yet, hopefully he comes out tomorrow.
2015 Breeders' Cup Entries - Check out the entries, post postitions, and morning line odds for the 13 Breeders' Cup World Championship races to be held at Keeneland on October 30 and 31.
Tuesday Breeders' Cup Photos - Photos and comments for 31 horses out on a rainy Tuesday morning at Keeneland including Stephanie's Kitten, Grand Arch, and Private Zone.
Monday Breeders' Cup Photos - Photos and comments for 28 horses out Monday morning at Keeneland including Rachel's Valentina and a timed work by Beholder.
Sunday Breeders' Cup Photos - Photos and comments for 10 horses out Sunday morning at Keeneland including Liam's Map and Lea
Breeders' Cup Weather - Check out the latest weather forecasts for the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland
Review: Crushing the Cup 2015 - by Jim Mazur and Peter Mallett. An invaluable tool for trying to unlock the mysteries of handicapping the Breeders' Cup races at Keeneland updated for 2015.
2014 Breeders' Cup Saturday Results - The feature race was the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic won by Bayern. Get the results, charts, and photos for all 9 races here.
2014 Breeders' Cup Friday Results - Friday was headlined by the $2 million Ladies Classic won by Untapable. Get the results, charts, and photos for all 4 races here.
Breeders' Cup History - Historical info, past results, and photos from previous runnings
The Breeders' Cup Championship Day - The official page for the Breeders' Cup championship races. Just about anything you need to know about it: results, video clips, and race calls for past years, and eventually nominations, entries, and results.
Free Prep Replays - for major prep races in the Breeders' Cup Challenge. The ones with camera logos have video available.
Blazing Silks, Breeders' Cup Edition- an interactive social network game that allows horse racing fans and social gamers to train and care for Thoroughbred horses.
TV Schedule - for all the preps and other programming leading up to the big day
Breeders' Cup Postcards - Breeders' Cup theme virtual postcards to send your friends including many past winners
Breeders' Cup Supplemental Entries - The old official policy on supplemental entries plus all the supplemental entries and how they fared, mostly it was a losing proposition. There are no more supplements now, only late nominations making it impossible to track now.
Left: Flotilla in the winner's circle. Thierry Delegue, representing owner Sheikh Mohammed Al Thani said, "I don't know if she would like the tight turns, but the tight turns help her to relax and we felt she might be better on fast ground. I wouldn't say it was a long term target. We were happy with our race in Longchamp, she was a little bit unlucky, but the way she won was quite impressive and she was keen on coming to America, so we decided we should have a try."
Left: Second place finisher Watsdachances returns after the race. Jockey Javier Castellano said, “We had a great trip. She ran really hard. She was tracking behind the leaders, and when I asked her to go, she put in her run. There are no excuses. She was second-best today. Sometimes that’s just the way it is.” Trainer Chad Brown added, “I thought she ran great. I thought Javier gave her a good ride and he got the running room he needed turning for home. She was second-best. I was real proud of the way she ran.”
