No Nay Never’s Meditate Dominates BC Juvenile Fillies Turf

LEXINGTON, KY–Meditate (Ire) (No Nay Never) scored the first of two victories for the Coolmore team, Aidan O'Brien and Ryan Moore Friday, charging home to a decisive score in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.

Favored at 2-1, Meditate bounded away from the stalls to establish position, settling in the three path near the back of the pack as 18-1 shot Spirit Gal (Fr) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) carved out an opening quarter in :23.19 and a half in :47.60. Meditate crept up a bit on the outside to sit mid-pack while turning for home four wide. Kicking into high gear at the top of the stretch, the bay unleashed a powerful turn of foot, rolling clear with ease to win by 2 1/2 lengths. The Shug McGaughey-trained Pleasant Passage (More Than Ready) was the runner-up with Cairo Consort (Cairo Prince) in third.

“We had a reason (she didn't win) at the Curragh and a reason for her last race and weren't sure about the mile,” said O'Brien, who teamed up with Moore and Coolmore to take the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf two races later. “Ryan (Moore) gave her a brilliant ride. Michael (Tabor) was very confident that this was the race for her. It's incredible. We came to here to see if she would be a filly for the Guineas. And I heard Michael telling Ryan before the race, if she wasn't going to get the trip here, we might not train her for the Guineas. Obviously, the result was great. Ryan was very patient. He didn't have an easy draw and said he had to take his time the first half. Delighted for everyone.”

“It's obviously always very hard coming here,” Moore said. “Everything needs to go right. No one comes here to get beat. The filly did it very easy and has lots of talent. She hasn't run a bad race all year and gets better with every race. She started well, went hard for a little bit, I was going to be wide and the pace got steady. I followed a horse down the backside and she picked up really well down the stretch. She had them covered with a furlong out and in front pricking her ears. She was much the best.”

As for the runner-up, McGaughey said, “I thought she ran great. She missed the break just a tad, but I loved her position back there. When the winner moved, we sort of had to wait a little bit. When she got clear in the stretch I thought she finished really well.”

A good-looking debut winner at the Curragh in April, Meditate reeled off three more wins after that, taking the G3 Naas Fillies Sprint S. May 15, Royal Ascot's G3 Albany S. June 17 and the Curragh's G2 Debutante S. Aug. 20. Her hot streak came to an end Sept. 11 when she finished second in the G1 Moyglare Stud S. and she completed the exacta again last time in Newmarket's G1 Cheveley Park S. Sept. 24

Pedigree Notes:

No Nay Never came up just a half-length short when second as the favorite in the 2014 GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, but the Coolmore stallion had a win on the 2022 championship card with his daughter Meditate. The filly is one of 26 group/graded winners for her sire, whose monster results this year include multiple Group 1-winning juvenile Blackbeard and Group 1-winning 2-year-old Little Big Bear.

Pembina is a half-sister to the dam of Group and Grade I winner Ectot (GB) (Hurricane Run {Ire}). Meditate is her most recent foal. —Jessica Martini

Friday, Keeneland
BREEDERS' CUP JUVENILE FILLIES TURF-GI, $920,000, Keeneland, 11-4, 2yo, f, 1mT, 1:35.38, fm.
1–MEDITATE (IRE), 122, f, 2, by No Nay Never
                1st Dam: Pembina (Ire), by Dalakhani (Ire)
                2nd Dam: Mahalia (Ire), by Danehill
                3rd Dam: Maresca (Ire), by Mill Reef
1ST GRADE I WIN. (€360,000 Ylg '21 ARAUG). O-Mrs. John
Magnier, Michael B. Tabor, Derrick Smith & Westerberg;
B-Lynch-Bages & Rhinestone Bloodstock (IRE); T-Aidan P.
O'Brien; J-Ryan L. Moore. $520,000. Lifetime Record: MGSW &
GISP-Ire, GSW & GISP-Eng, 7-5-2-0, $862,341. Werk Nick
Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Pleasant Passage, 122, f, 2, by More Than Ready
                1st Dam: Peaceful Passage, by War Front
                2nd Dam: Flying Passage, by A.P. Indy
                3rd Dam: Chic Shirine, by Mr. Prospector
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. O/B-Emory A. Hamilton (KY); T-Claude R.
McGaughey III. $170,000.
3–Cairo Consort, 122, f, 2, by Cairo Prince
                1st Dam: Absolutely Awesome, by Street Cry (Ire)
                2nd Dam: Discreetly Awesome, by Awesome Again
                3rd Dam: Pretty Discreet, by Private Account
($37,000 RNA Wlg '20 FTKNOV; $95,000 Ylg '21 FTKOCT).
O-Maple Lane Farm LLC; B-Frankfort Park Farm (KY); T-Nathan
Squires. $90,000.
Margins: 2HF, 2 1/4, HD. Odds: 2.04, 6.41, 19.14.
Also Ran: Midnight Mile (Ire), Free Look, Last Call, Comanche Country (Ire), Manhattan Jungle (Ire), Be Your Best (Ire), Delight, Basil Martini (Ire), Bling, Spirit Gal (Fr), Xigera. Scratched: Alluring Angel (GB), G Laurie.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Shug Unveils Potential ‘Star’ at Spa

Capture the Flag (Quality Road–War Flag, by War Front) entering with some positive workout notes and backed at 5-2 for the notoriously patient Shug McGaughey barn, turned in an auspicious debut in Saratoga's Saturday opener that seemed like just the tip of the iceberg. Last away in the field of five, the hulking bay quickly narrowed the gap and mounted a three-deep move into the turn. Going much easier than the two foes to his inside approaching the stretch, he was confidently ridden out by Luis Saez, bounding home by three lengths in 1:06.17 en route to being named a 'TDN Rising Star'. Tatum (Cross Traffic), who had been beaten a nose on debut at Parx, was second best.

Capture the Flag was bred by Mr. Joseph Allen LLC and appears to be have been bought into privately after that by Mrs. John Magnier, Michael B. Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg Limited and Jonathan Poulin. He is the second foal out of Allen and McGaughey's 2017 GI Flower Bowl S. winner War Flag–the first, Personal Best (Tapit), was most recently third going nine furlongs on the grass at Belmont in maiden special weight company last month. War Flag is a full to Hong Kong G1SW Lines of Battle. A half to the dam produced the same connections' 2020 Flower Bowl heroine Civil Union. Capture the Flag's third dam is GISW Andover Way (His Majesty), who in turn produced MGSW and influential sire Dynaformer (Roberto). Next in the pipeline for War Flag is a yearling Uncle Mo filly and a foal colt by Into Mischief. She was bred back to Gun Runner.

McGaughey's recent 'Rising Star'-worthy debut winners at the Spa include champion Honor Code (A.P. Indy) and MGISW Code of Honor (Noble Mission {GB}).

1st-Saratoga, $101,850, Msw, 7-30, 2yo, 5 1/2f, 1:06.17, ft, 3 lengths.
CAPTURE THE FLAG, c, 2, Quality Road
                1st Dam: War Flag (GISW-USA, GSW-Fr, $474,660),
                                by War Front
                2nd Dam: Black Speck, by Arch
                3rd Dam: Andover Way, by His Majesty
Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $57,750. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG. Free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
O-Allen Stable, Inc., Magnier, Mrs. John, Tabor, Michael B., Smith, Derrick, Westerberg Limited and Poulin, Jonathan; B-Mr. Joseph Allen LLC (KY); T-Claude R. McGaughey III.

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