The Breeders’ Cup gets underway on Friday (Del Mar, USA) and many of the 13 races feature strong British and Irish interest. Today, we’ll take a look at the Juvenile Fillies’ Turf and 3 raiders that look in with a genuine shout.
September
Age: 2 (Foaled February 21st, 2015)
Sex: Bay Filly
Breeding: Deep Impact (JPN) – Peeping Fawn (USA) (Danehill (USA))
Trainer: A P O’Brien
There has been a lot of talk about the prospects of Deep Impact as a sire and it looks like we have to start taking the progeny of this stallion very seriously, following the victory of Saxon Warrior in Saturday’s Racing Post Trophy.
September won on debut at Leopardstown and followed-up with victory in the Chesham Stakes, under a smart hold-up ride by Ryan Moore. However, some punters might be a little disappointed overall with the filly’s 3 outings since then.
4th in the Debutante Stakes (Curragh), she was then beaten by both Happily and Magical (both stablemates) in the Moyglare Stud Stakes at the same venue. September was unfortunate to lose out in the Fillies’ Mile, by just a nose, so it’s clear that the talent is there. She just needs to get back in the winning habit and this $1,000,000 G1 encounter is certainly the event in which to do so.
Happily
Age: 2 (Foaled February 27th, 2015)
Sex: Bay Filly
Breeding: Galileo (IRE) – You’resothrilling (USA) (Storm Cat (USA))
Trainer: A P O’Brien
Happily was sent to post as the 2nd favourite (behind September) in the Debutante Stakes and although she tasted defeat behind stablemate Magical, she has since gone on to land Group 1 contests in Ireland and France. All 3 of these horses are already in our ante-post markets for both the 1000 Guineas and the Oaks.
We last saw Happily at Chantilly, where she got the better of Olmedo, in the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere Grand Criterium, indicating that this filly has a huge future ahead of her. No female horse had won this contest, since Danishkada in 1986!
“Michael (Tabor) said here last year that this would be a good race to put a filly in but it was still a big call to run her against the colts.” said O’Brien, following the big win in France.
Can she now deliver, at Del Mar?
Juliet Capulet
Age: 2 (Foaled March 13th, 2015)
Sex: Bay Filly
Breeding: Dark Angel (IRE) – Capulet Monteque (IRE) (Camacho)
Trainer: J H M Gosden
Owner: Cheveley Park Stud
John Gosden’s charge took a little while to find her stride and only shed her maiden tag at the 4th attempt, winning a modest encounter at Thirsk in late-July.
She began the Solera Stakes as a 20/1 outsider, but finished runner-up to Tajaanus in a fairly open renewal. Gosden then sent her to Newmarket, where she found relatively few friends in the market for the Rockfel Stakes despite Frankie Dettori partnering the Dark Angel-sired filly for the first time. Juliet Capulet showed plenty of grit, denying Nyaleti who was the race favourite.
Dettori’s services have been retained and we all know how dangerous the Italian is, when it comes to G1 races. Could we see yet another flying-dismount, on Friday?
Others In Contention
Both Marco Botti’s Capla Temptress and Roger Varian’s Madeline are trained in the UK, although it’s likely that connections of either runner would settle for place-money. Joseph O’Brien’s Now You’re Talking is also expected to run, although a mid-division finish would be a decent achievement for her in this sort of company.
Chad Brown’s Rushing Fall looks the main threat to September, Happily and Juliet Capulet The American filly could well be the one who goes into the stalls as favourite, but this will be the 10th renewal of this one-mile contest and only one favourite has ever finished first (Lady Eli).
Brown will also be represented by Significant Form, another seen as a potential winner and it’s worth remembering that the trainer already has a trio of Juvenile Fillies’ Turf victories under his belt.
A fantastic race looks in-store!
