breeders' cup juvenile fillies | Horse Racing Free Tips

Breeders’ Cup Runner-Up Dayoutoftheoffice ‘Way Ahead Of Schedule’ For Sophomore Debut

Like the majority of Thoroughbred trainers, Tampa Bay Downs conditioner Tim Hamm is a realist. And he knows it is unlikely his filly Dayoutoftheoffice will be announced as the Eclipse Award Champion 2-Year-Old Filly on Thursday after her second-place finish to Vequist in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies on Nov. 6 at Keeneland.

After her dazzling 5-furlong breeze in 1:01 on Sunday at Tampa Bay Downs, Hamm expects Dayoutoftheoffice to earn another shot against Vequist in the near future. Dayoutoftheoffice had breezed 4 furlongs a week earlier in 49 3/5 seconds in her first workout of 2021.

“She's coming back incredibly well. Her work today (with exercise rider Alfredo Clemente aboard) was awesome,” Hamm said Sunday. “She just did it real easy and she galloped out super strong. She is way ahead of schedule, and it's a good feeling that we can handle her how we want and have her plenty fit for whatever race we choose (as her 3-year-old debut).”

Hamm said Dayoutoftheoffice will likely make her first 3-year-old start on either Feb. 27 in the Grade 2 Davona Dale at Gulfstream or on March 6 in the G3 Honeybee Stakes at Oaklawn Park. “We nominated her to the Suncoast (on Feb. 6 at Tampa Bay Downs), but that is probably a little too quick,” he said. Hamm added that the Grade 1, $1.25-million Longines Kentucky Oaks on April 30 at Churchill Downs is in his plans for the Kentucky-bred daughter of Into Mischief.

Although Dayoutoftheoffice is 1-1 against Vequist, having beaten her in the G1 Frizette Stakes on Oct. 10 at Belmont, and had a better record last year – three victories from four starts, with the lone second in the Juvenile Fillies, compared to Vequist's two victories and two seconds – Eclipse voters have traditionally given extra weight to winning a Breeders' Cup race.

“Just being nominated is great. It says you had one of the best 2-year-old fillies in the country,” said Hamm, who also co-owns Dayoutoftheoffice under his Blazing Meadows Farm banner in partnership with Siena Farm. “I'd love to say we have a chance, but if you're voting, you're going to see who won on championship day (at the Breeders' Cup).”

The third nominee in the 2-Year-Old Filly category is Aunt Pearl, whose 3-for-3 record includes a victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (voters have been known to lean toward dirt horses when push comes to shove, but you never know).

The 50th Eclipse Awards Ceremony honoring the sport's 2020 champions will be held Thursday as a virtual event, with portions hosted from Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Ky. Winners in 17 equine and human categories will be announced in a program streamed live on multiple outlets, including TVG and Racetrack Television Network, beginning at 7:30 p.m. (see below for the finalists).

Hamm had a previous brush with Eclipse Award glory, having sold Wait a While as an unraced 2-year-old in 2005 after purchasing her the previous year as a yearling. She was part of his pinhooking program and reaped a $210,000 profit. In 2006, Wait a While earned the Eclipse as Champion 3-Year-Old Filly for owner Arindel and trainer Todd Pletcher.

“We breed them, raise them, sell them and race them. It is all part of our plan,” Hamm said.

Here are the Eclipse Award finalists (in alphabetical order) in each category:

Horse of the Year: Authentic, Improbable, Monomoy Girl

2-Year-Old Male: Essential Quality, Fire At Will, Jackie's Warrior

2-Year-Old Filly: Aunt Pearl, Dayoutoftheoffice, Vequist

3-Year-Old Male: Authentic, Nadal, Tiz the Law

3-Year-Old Filly: Gamine, Shedaresthedevil, Swiss Skydiver

Older Dirt Male: Improbable, Maximum Security, Vekoma

Older Dirt Female: Midnight Bisou, Monomoy Girl, Serengeti Empress

Male Sprinter: Vekoma, Volatile, Whitmore

Female Sprinter: Gamine, Glass Slippers, Serengeti Empress

Male Turf Horse: Channel Maker, Order of Australia, Zulu Alpha

Female Turf horse: Audarya, Rushing Fall, Tarnawa

Steeplechase Horse: Moscato, Rashaan, Snap Decision

Owner: Godolphin, Klaravich Stables, and the partnership of Spendthrift Farm, MyRaceHorse Stable, Madaket Stables, and Starlight Racing

Breeder: Calumet Farm, Peter E. Blum Thoroughbreds, WinStar Farm

Trainer: Steve Asmussen, Bob Baffert, Brad Cox

Jockey: Irad Ortiz, Jr., Joel Rosario, John Velazquez

Apprentice Jockey: Luis Cardenas, Yarmarie Correa, Alexander Crispin

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Princess Noor Retired With Soft Tissue Injury

Dual Grade I winner Princess Noor (Not This Time–Sheza Smoke Show, by Wilko) has been retired from racing with a soft tissue injury after being pulled up as the heavy favorite in Saturday’s GI Starlet S. at Los Alamitos, owner Zedan Racing Stables reported Sunday morning.

“She’s a star and a very talented filly,” said Amr Zedan. “She had the race and most probably a few more Grade Is to her name. Our focus now is to get her healthy and off to Kentucky to be the best mom she can ever be. It hurts, but thank God she’s well and retirement is the best decision.”

A $135,000 Keeneland September yearling who blossomed into this year’s OBS Spring 2-year-olds sale topper at $1.35 million after blazing through a :20 1/5 quarter-mile breeze, the dark bay debuted as an odds-on favorite Aug. 22 at Del Mar and cruised to the easiest of tallies, earning ‘TDN Rising Star’ status. Backing that up with a dominant 6 1/2-length conquest of the GI Del Mar Debutante S., she made it three-for-three with an 8 1/4-length romp in the GI Chandelier S.

Fifth as the favorite in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, Princess Noor was 3-5 to get back on track in the Starlet, but was pulled up by jockey Victor Espinoza shortly after taking the lead around the quarter pole. She retires with a record of 5-3-0-0 and earnings of $363,500.

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Bloodlines: Breeders’ Cup Future Stars Friday Was Draped In Godolphin Blue

Future Stars Friday at the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland produced a banner day for Sheikh Mohammed's Darley America at Jonabell Farm.

The stallion division took the bows with freshman sire Nyquist (by Uncle Mo) as the sire of Vequist, who was the winner in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, and the broodmare side of the operation scored with the victory of the homebred Essential Quality (Tapit) in the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

Both 2-year-olds are likely selections at the Eclipse Awards as leaders of their divisions on the racetrack.

Vequist propelled her sire, champion juvenile colt and Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist, to the top of the freshman sire list, where he is virtually certain to stay with almost double the earnings of second-place Not This Time (Giant's Causeway). The third-place freshman sire is Laoban (Uncle Mo), who was recently purchased and moved from New York to WinStar Farm in Kentucky, where he will stand alongside the fourth-place freshman Outwork (Uncle Mo).

So, three of the top four freshmen are sons of Uncle Mo, and of the six freshmen sires who have sired a graded stakes winner, two are by Uncle Mo (Nyquist and Laoban), and two are by Giant's Causeway (Not This Time and Brody's Cause). The other two freshmen sires of graded winners are Hit It a Bomb (War Front) and Texas Red (Afleet Alex).

The most common denominator among the elite half-dozen? All but Laoban were top-class performers at two, four winning a Grade 1 and Not This Time finishing a close second in the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile to divisional champion Classic Empire.

Prior to the winning the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, Vequist had won the G1 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga and finished second in the G1 Frizette Stakes to Dayoutoftheoffice (Into Mischief), who was second at Keeneland on Friday. Vequist's record show two victories from four starts, more than $1.2 million in earnings.

Later on Friday at Keeneland, the homebred Essential Quality remained unbeaten in three starts with a smooth effort in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile over Hot Rod Charlie.

Unlike Vequist, who was the fourth choice at 6.6-to-1, Essential Quality was second choice only to the previously unbeaten Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music), who was the odds-on favorite at .9-to-1 and finished fourth.

The Juvenile was the second Grade 1 victory for Essential Quality, who had previously won the Breeders' Futurity, and a 4 1/4 length margin over Jackie's Warrior probably will push the son of Tapit over the top for the Eclipse. If so, Essential Quality would be the second champion juvenile colt for his sire, who has been three times the leading sire in North America.

The first champion 2-year-old colt by Tapit was Hansen, a handsome and well-balanced gray who went to stud at Ashford, then was sold off to Korea before his first foals had arrived. In 2019, Hansen was the leading sire of juveniles in Korea and second on the overall list to perennial leader Menifee. In 2020, Hansen is currently the leading sire overall in Korea.

Additionally, if Essential Quality gets the Eclipse as champion colt, he would be the first Eclipse Award winner as top 2-year-old colt bred by Darley. Midshipman, a son of Unbridled's Song and already a G1 winner, was acquired by Darley as part of a massive package deal with the Stonerside operation of Robert and Janice McNair. The colt subsequently won the 2008 Juvenile, the Eclipse Award, and stands at Darley today.

Darley also stands Frosted, a freshman sire son of Tapit, and stood the now-deceased Elusive Quality (Gone West), who is the broodmare sire of Essential Quality through his stakes-placed daughter Delightful Quality.

Seven times second or third in stakes, Delightful Quality earned $253,900, and Essential Quality is the mare's fourth foal. Her second foal, the unraced Indelible (Tiznow), had sold for $130,000 as a broodmare at the 2019 Keeneland November sale. On Nov. 8, two days after her half-brother won the Juvenile at Keeneland, Indelible resold for $1.6 million, in foal to Nyquist, at the Fasig-Tipton November sale. The young mare brought the 11th highest price of the auction, and the buyer was Nobutaka Tada.

Delightful Quality has a yearling filly by Uncle Mo and was barren this year. She was bred back to Nyquist in 2020 but lost the pregnancy.

Darley bred Delightful Quality and has bred all her foals to date. This mare is a half-sister to champion juvenile filly Folklore (Tiznow), and both are out of the Storm Cat mare Contrive. A blocky and substantial mare greatly in need of scope, Contrive produced a near-carbon copy of herself who became the leading 2-year-old filly of 2005 with a pair of Grade 1 victories, including the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.

Shortly thereafter, Darley acquired Contrive for $3 million at the 2005 Fasig-Tipton November sale in foal to BC Classic winner Pleasantly Perfect (Pleasant Colony). Contrive produced nine foals for Darley, and six were fillies, including Divided Attention (A.P. Indy), who won the listed Ladies Handicap and was second in the G3 Tempted Stakes at two.

With the success of Essential Quality, Darley has another top horse from this famous family that extends back to the great broodmare La Troienne. The French-bred La Troienne crowned the family's roll of juvenile honor with her best son Bimelech, the champion 2-year-old of 1939 and a champion and multiple classic winner the following year.

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Vequist To Get Time Off After ‘Spectacular’ Breeders’ Cup Win, Then Aim For 2021 Kentucky Oaks

There were good vibes all around the far end of Barn 66 at Keeneland Saturday morning as the connections of Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Vequist basked in the achievements of the dark bay daughter of Nyquist.

Trainer Butch Reid reported that all was well with his charge in the aftermath of her 2-length triumph over budding rival Dayoutoftheoffice in the Juvenile Fillies, an effort that now puts Vequist in position to take home an Eclipse Award for divisional honors. While horses can sometimes fool their caretakers by flaunting one kind of form in the morning only to give off an entirely different impression in the afternoons, Vequist more than backed up the serious tout she had made for herself this week as one of the best looking horses during training hours.

“When I saw her in the morning jogging and stuff, I thought she looked really good but then when she got over there into the paddock in the afternoon, I thought she looked spectacular,” said Reid, who previously won the 2011 Breeders' Cup Marathon with Afleet Again. “In my mind, I thought she won the paddock show. She looked good, calm, relaxed. We felt pretty good.”

Vequist now has two wins from four career starts with both of her triumphs coming in top-level races. She broke her maiden by a jaw-dropping 9 ½ lengths in the Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga on Sept. 6 but was beaten in the Grade 1 Frizette by Dayoutoftheoffice.

Under heady handling from Joel Rosario Friday, Vequist used an inside trip to turn the tables on her rival and make her sire Nyquist one of now 24 stallions to win a Breeders' Cup race and sire a Breeders' Cup winner.

“We figured she would be laying close and it seemed like the inside was good all day,” Reid said. “And we had Joel in the irons. We had full confidence in the horse and the rider. This is my second Breeders' Cup win but this was really a special one because she's a homebred and I was able to do it for Tom McGrath and Gary Barber and Adam Wachtel. It makes it extra special.”

Vequist was bred by McGrath's Swilcan Stables with McGrath selling an interest in the filly to Barber and Wachtel after she finished second in her career debut at Parx on July 29. To Reid's delight, the new addition to the ownership had no intention of taking the filly out of his care.

“That's something rare in this business that something like that happens. Normally that's it and the horse is gone,” Reid said. “I didn't know them (Barber and Wachtel) until I talked to them on the phone. In fact I met Gary Barber for the first time yesterday.”

Reid added that Vequist will now head to Barry Eisman's farm in Florida for a freshening to prepare for what he hopes is a successful trip down the Kentucky Oaks trail in 2021.

“Four starts as a 2-year-old is plenty for me and we got her stretched around two turns, which is what I wanted,” Reid said. “She'll soak up some sun and pick on some grass.”

Trainer and co-owner Tim Hamm reported all was good with Dayoutoftheoffice the morning after her gutsy runner-up finish in the Juvenile Fillies.

Dayoutoftheoffice set a quick pace in the 1 1/16m Juvenile Fillies, throwing down the first quarter in 23.30 and an opening half mile in 47.12 before being caught by race-winner Vequist in the late stages. That loss marked the first defeat in four starts for Dayoutoftheoffice, but the daughter of Into Mischief figures to be in play for Eclipse Award honors with her prior wins in the Grade 1 Frizette — in which she bested Vequist — and Grade 3 Schuylerville Stakes.

“She'll take a little break and get ready for a 3-year-old campaign,” Hamm said.

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