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The TDN Kentucky Oaks Top 10 for January 14

With the year having just begun, it will take a while for the picture for the GI Kentucky Oaks to come into focus. For now, the fillies who thrived last year dominate this Top 10 list, but that can, and likely will, change as the calendar works its way toward the first Friday in May and new names emerge in the major preps for the Oaks.

It is, at the very least, a solid group, headed by GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Vequist, who will be named the champion 2-year-old filly of 2020. For her, and several others on the list, it will all come down to whether or not they peaked at two or if they have made a successful transition from their freshmen campaigns to their 3-year-old campaigns.

Saturday’s racing will include the first 2021 Oaks prep of any kind as a field of nine will compete in the Silverbulletday S. at Fair Grounds. All eyes will be on Sun Path, a blowout winner of an allowance race in New Orleans last month. She is trained by Brad Cox, who won last year’s Oaks with Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil).

1). VEQUIST (Nyquist–Vero Amore, by Mineshaft)

With victories in the GI Spinaway S. and in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies last year, she was clearly the most accomplished 2-year-old filly of 2020. There’s nothing not to like about the daughter of Nyquist, who has displayed speed, class and the ability to win around two turns and at a mile-and-a-sixteenth.

Soon to be named the champion 2-year-old filly of 2020, Vequist had her first work of 2021 Saturday when she breezed a half-mile in 49.45 at Palm Meadows.

“Right after the Breeders’ Cup we sent her to Barry Eisman’s place in Ocala for a little R & R,” trainer Butch Reid said. “She had a nice six weeks off while there and I then brought her to Palm Meadows. She had her first breeze Saturday and went a nice half-mile in 49 and change. That served to wake her up. All systems are go.”

And how has she done since her break?

“There are a couple of guys in my barn here at Palm Meadows who happened to be in our barn last summer at Saratoga and they remarked how much she had grown and how much weight she had put on since last summer,” Reid said. “Sometimes, it’s a little deceiving to your own eyes when you see them every day, but these guys hadn’t seen her in six months and they thought she looked like a different horse. They did a sensational job with her at Ocala. She’s put on weight and she’s really maturing.”

Next Start: GII Davona Dale S., GP, Feb. 27
Kentucky Oaks Points: 24

2). SUN PATH (Munnings–Touch the Star, by Tapit)

Could be the best among the “new faces” that did not run in the Breeders’ Cup. After finishing second in her debut, the ‘TDN Rising Star’ won a maiden at Churchill by three lengths and followed that up with a 12 3/4-length romp in an allowance on Dec. 18 at Fair Grounds. She is a full-sister to Bonny South, the winner of the 2020 GII Fair Grounds Oaks.

“At this stage of the game, she’s better [than Bonny South],” Cox said. “She showed more this summer than Bonny showed as a 2-year-old. She’s got a long way to go to catch up to Bonny’s accomplishments, but at this stage of the game, there’s more talent and speed there and she does things maybe a touch easier.”

Owned by Juddmonte Farms, trained by Cox and ridden by Florent Geroux, she is certainly in capable hands. Cox has won two of the last three runnings of the Kentucky Oaks.

Her one flaw may be how she gets out of the gate. She broke through the gate prior to the start of the allowance race and she also had gate problems in her two previous starts.

Will be in action this weekend, heading the Silverbulletday.

Next Start: Silverbulletday S., FG, Jan. 16
Kentucky Oaks Points: 0

3). DAYOUTOFTHEOFFICE (Into Mischief–Gottahaveadream, by Indian Charlie)

Like Vequist, Dayoutoftheoffice spent some time in Ocala relaxing after she finished second in the Juvenile Fillies and only recently returned to the Tampa Bay Downs barn of trainer Tim Hamm.

“She’s put on some weight and she seems happy,” Hamm said. “She’s doing great.”

The daughter of Into Mischief snuck up on a lot of people when she won the GIII Schuylerville S. at Saratoga by six lengths as a 19-1 outsider. She followed that up with a two-length win in the GI Frizette S. and was the third choice in the Juvenile Fillies at 4-1. She ran well that day to finish second, but it was a performance that raises some questions. In her first try around two turns, she led in the stretch before Vequist ran by her for the win. Could she have distance limitations? That’s a question that will likely be answered early on in 2021.

Hamm said she will make her 3-year-old debut in either the Davona Dale or the GIII Honeybee S. on March 6 at Oaklawn.

Next Start: Undecided
Kentucky Oaks Points: 18

4). TRAVEL COLUMN (Frosted–Swingit, by Victory Gallop)

Another Brad Cox runner and ‘TDN Rising Star’ who prospered later on in the year and now has designs on the Kentucky Oaks. A $850,000 purchase at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling sale, she didn’t run particularly well when a distant third in the GI Darley Alcibiades S., but was a much different horse when recording an impressive win in the GII Golden Rod S. at Churchill Downs. She wound up last behind moderate fractions after being knocked around at the start and had to alter course in the stretch to find running room. Still, she prevailed by a length. Daughter of Frosted looks like she can improve and should be a major player on the road to the Oaks.

Next Start: GII Rachel Alexandra S. presented by Fasig-Tipton, FG, Feb. 13
Kentucky Oaks Points: 12

5). MALATHAAT (Curlin–Dreaming of Julia, by A.P. Indy)

There appears to be a lot of upside to this filly who went for seven figures at the yearling sales and now runs for Shadwell Stable. The ‘TDN Rising Star’ is three for three and already has a win at a mile-and-an-eighth, in the GII Demoiselle S. at Aqueduct. That she is by Curlin suggest that the best is yet to come.

In some respects, the Demoiselle was not her most impressive performance. Sent off at 2-5, she looked beaten in mid-stretch but had enough class to grind out a win by three-quarters of a length in a race run over a sloppy track.

“She was never comfortable and not running into a spot I wanted,” jockey John Velazquez said afterward. “She never really put that much effort into keeping a spot. Finally, when I tipped her out heading to the quarter-pole, she started running.”

While this could be the year that Malathaat blossoms, she will need to run faster. Her best Beyer number so far is the 83 she got when winning the Tempted S. She got a 76 in the Demoiselle.

Next Start: GII Davona Dale S., GP, Feb. 27
Kentucky Oaks Points: 10

6). GIRL DADDY (Uncle Mo–Cara Marie, by Unbridled’s Song)

Daughter of Uncle Mo was a creditable third in the Juvenile Fillies, losing the place position by a nose, in what was her first career defeat. She earned a 90 Beyer figure that day, the best of her brief career. She had been impressive in her two earlier starts, a maiden win at Ellis Park and a two-length victory in the GIII Pocahontas at Churchill Downs. There are no serious knocks on the ‘TDN Rising Star’, but she may have to improve to be able to beat the likes of Vequist and some others. Will try to give trainer Dale Romans his first Oaks win.

Next Start: Undecided
Kentucky Oaks Points: 14

7). SIMPLY RAVISHING (Laoban–Four Wishes, by More Than Ready)

Hard to get a read on this filly. Trainer Ken McPeek, so adept at finding quality horses at the sales for modest prices, plucked this one out of the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearling sale for $50,000. She won her first three races, including the GI Alcibiades, and it looked like she might be on her way to championship honors. Instead, she finished fourth in the Breeders’ Cup and followed that up with a fourth-place finish in the Golden Rod as the 7-10 favorite. At the very least, she will need to return to the form she showed in the Alcibiades to be considered a top Oaks contender. Did she peak too early?

Next Start: Undecided
Kentucky Oaks Points: 13

8). KALYPSO (Brody’s Cause–Malibu Cove, by Malibu Moon)

Early indications are that the California-based 3-year-old fillies are not a particularly strong group. The Beyer numbers for most of their races have been on the slow side. For now, Kalypso looks as good as any. A $240,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Select Yearling Sale, she improved quite a bit to win the GII Santa Ynez S. over stablemate Frosteria (Frosted), who is still a maiden, for the Bob Baffert barn. The Santa Ynez is a seven-furlong race, so she still needs to show that she can thrive at longer distances. While this one is not worthy as of yet of cracking the top three or four, it would be a mistake to discount anything that Baffert sends out.

Next Start: GII Las Virgenes S., SA, Feb. 6
Kentucky Oaks Points: 14

9). VARDA (Distorted Humor–She’ll Be Right, by Sky Mesa)

Another horse from the Baffert stable, the good news is that she is a Grade I winner, which she accomplished in the GI Starlet S. at Los Alamitos. The bad news is that she hasn’t run nearly fast enough to be considered among the best in her division. Sent off at 17-1 in the five-horse Starlet, her time for the mile-and-a-sixteenth was 1:44 2/5, good for just a 68 Beyer. That puts her 25 points behind Vequist’s best. That doesn’t mean she can’t improve. But will need to post a significantly faster number before climbing to the top of this list.

Next Start: GII Las Virgenes S., SA, Feb. 6
Kentucky Oaks Points: 14

10). SOUPER SENSATIONAL (Curlin–Kateri, by Indian Charlie)

She’s never run outside of Canada and has only raced on a synthetic surface, so she is a bit of an unknown as she heads into Saturday’s Silverbulletday at Fair Grounds. A $725,000 buy at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling sale, she runs for Live Oak Plantation and trainer Mark Casse. The ‘TDN Rising Star’ looked outstanding in her two career starts, winning easily in a maiden event at Woodbine before following that up with a four-length win in the Glorious Song S. Another who is by Curlin, so there’s no reason why she won’t keep getting better.

Next Start: Silverbulletday S., FG, Jan. 16
Kentucky Oaks Points: 0

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Making Claims: Nevills Defends His Eclipse Awards Ballot

In “Making Claims,” Paulick Report bloodstock editor Joe Nevills shares his opinions on the Thoroughbred industry from the breeding and sales arenas to the racing world and beyond.

It's early January, and you know what that means: Eclipse Award voters have begun sharing their ballots on social media, and no matter who they picked, outrage ensues from the folks who disagree.

I've got an Eclipse vote, and it's made public as a member of the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters bloc of voters, so in the interest of transparency, I'll share here how I filled out my ballot, along with my reasoning for each category.

If you think I'm off-base with any of my votes, just remember these two things: First, the voting is closed, so nothing I say here can swing any undecided voters. Second, back in 2011, one intrepid voter chose Drosselmeyer as champion turf male in a campaign where his lone start on grass was a seventh-place effort. No matter how much we might disagree on who should be placed where, please understand that someone out there will go further off the deep end than any of us could imagine and cancel me out. Eclipse Award voters are an eclectic bunch.

With that out of the way, let's get down to business.

2-Year-Old Male
1. Essential Quality
2. Jackie's Warrior
3. Fire At Will

While I certainly can't fault anyone for giving Jackie's Warrior a mulligan for his fourth-place effort in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, and instead focusing on his brilliant campaign up to that point, two things swung it toward Essential Quality for me.

First, when they faced off head-to-head on the biggest stage of their lives in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, Essential Quality got there first. The juvenile dirt races hold a lot of weight for me, especially in a deep field like we had this year. Second, Essential Quality had a bit more depth to his game. Where Jackie's Warrior got to the front early to do his damage, Essential Quality showed he could be a Grade 1 horse battling for the lead or coming from behind, and he did it twice beyond a mile. That professionalism gave him the edge.

2-Year-Old Female
1. Vequist
2. Dayoutoftheoffice
3. Aunt Pearl

Vequist was the only horse in the division with two Grade 1 wins, and if she was going to split the series with Dayoutoftheoffice, I'd rather have the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies in my win column than the Frizette. All due respect to Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Aunt Pearl, but the lack of depth in North America's juvenile turf platoon and its schedule compared to their dirt contemporaries makes it hard to put a turf horse on top on either of the baby divisions.

3-Year-Old Male
1. Authentic
2. Tiz the Law
3. Happy Saver

The first two were slam dunks. Authentic won the Derby and Breeders' Cup Classic, both over Tiz the Law, who would have gotten the nod if he'd have won either one of those races. There is such a wide gap to the third spot that it allowed for some creativity. Happy Saver got the call by virtue of beating older competition in the G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup.

For the record, I need you all to appreciate the level of restraint it took for me to keep my real champion 3-year-old of 2020 off the ticket: a gelding named Underscore who ran fourth in his only career start back in March, who is now working toward his second career when he's not busy receiving hugs and mints.

3-Year-Old Female
1. Swiss Skydiver
2. Shedaresthedevil
3. Harvey's Lil Goil

Pretty simple here. If a filly wins a Triple Crown race, it's going to take a mountain of evidence against her to knock her off the perch. Fortunately, Swiss Skydiver had a deep resume to justify the spot beyond her centerpiece victory, with four other graded stakes triumphs, including the G1 Alabama Stakes. Shedaresthedevil, who bested Swiss Skydiver in the Kentucky Oaks and never ran a bad one in 2020, was a clear second, completing an outstanding exacta for new Lane's End resident Daredevil.

Older Dirt Male
1. Improbable
2. Vekoma
3. Global Campaign

I'll be the first to admit that after watching Improbable lose as the favorite again and again as a 3-year-old, I never thought he'd get it together enough to become more than the occasional fluke Grade 1 winner. A year later, here I am eating my words after he became one of the few consistent pillars of an older male division that saw a lot of its potential stars struggle with injury and consistency. Improbable crisscrossed the map and beat everyone else in the division he needed to beat.

I could have shaken the bottle, pulled out a lot of other names to fill out the bottom of the ticket and felt the same about it, but consistent, strong efforts at the highest levels got Vekoma and Global Campaign there for me. In a year where practically every serious contender either got hurt or got exposed when the chips were really down, showing up to work with your lunchpail was enough.

Older Dirt Female
1. Monomoy Girl
2. Serengeti Empress
3. Valiance

In terms of margin of victory, Monomoy Girl might be the biggest runaway winner of this year's divisions. She went unbeaten in four starts this year, including her pièce de résistance in the Breeders' Cup Distaff.

Serengeti Empress was probably the best horse with the worst luck this year, just missing a couple of graded stakes wins after running with a ton of heart. Even with the near-misses, she was incredibly versatile, winning graded stakes at both the sprint and route distances. Valiance got good at the right time, and proved she belonged with a win in the G1 Spinster Stakes and a second to Monomoy Girl in the Distaff.

I struggled with what to do with Midnight Bisou. She ran huge in the Saudi Cup (and she might end up being named the winner someday if the right people decide there's enough evidence to take Maximum Security down), she looked like the Midnight Bisou we all know and love in her G2 Fleur de Lis romp, and she was unlucky to get nipped in the G1 Personal Ensign. What kept her off the ticket for me was the incomplete feeling I had when I looked at her record. She only raced three times – twice on U.S. soil – she only won once (as of the time this was published), and she didn't win a North American Grade 1. When I crossed out her name from the running lines and separated the campaign from the brand recognition behind the horse that ran it, the bid lost a lot of its luster.

Male Sprinter
1. Whitmore
2. Vekoma
3. Volatile

Not a great year for this division in terms of true standouts. Like the Older Dirt Male division, there were a lot of struggles here with form and health that made this division tough to sort out. When that happens, the Breeders' Cup gains a lot more weight, almost by default. Whitmore ran the race of his life to win the Breeders' Cup Sprint, and while his campaign had its fair share of misfires, he did enough with his supporting efforts to put him on top.

Vekoma and Volatile were both lightly raced in 2020, and I don't love that, but they both went undefeated and won their Grade 1 races with gusto. No one else, save for maybe C Z Rocket, had a case that could stack up to that.

Female Sprinter
1. Serengeti Empress
2. Bell's the One
3. Glass Slippers

First, let's address the elephant in the room: Where's Gamine?

My policy for Eclipse voting is if the glacially-paced gears of horse racing's justice system are fast enough to pop a horse for a positive drug test and disqualify them from a race, they're off my ticket regardless of what they do for the rest of their campaign. When Gamine was taken down from her Oaklawn Park optional claimer earlier this year due to a lidocaine positive, she ceased being eligible for year-end honors in my eyes.

I didn't vote for La Verdad in 2015 when she was a contender in this division after she got taken down from the G2 Honorable Miss Stakes for a clenbuterol positive. She ended up winning the Eclipse anyway by eight votes over Wavell Avenue. If I were to venture a guess, Gamine will take this trophy home by a much wider margin, regardless of what I think, but I won't be part of it.

So, that leaves us with a closely matched race between Serengeti Empress and Bell's the One. Bell's the One bested Serengeti Empress by a nose in the G1 Derby City Distaff, while Serengeti Empress nosed out her foe for second in the Breeders' Cup Sprint. If we're pretending Gamine doesn't exist, that's a draw in my eyes. Serengeti Empress had an additional Grade 1 sprint win in the Ballerina, while Bell's the One only had a Grade 3 win to counter, putting the decision to rest.

Male Turf Horse
1. Channel Maker
2. Zulu Alpha
3. Instilled Regard

Filling out the award winners in this division is often a bleak affair, given how much time North America's turf males spend beating each other up, then losing to fillies and Europeans when the lights are the brightest, but this might be the least convincing group of contenders I've seen in any division since I've had a vote.

Let's get this over with. I don't tend to put European-based horses on top unless their case is so convincing that I have no other choice, and that didn't happen this year. Channel Maker was the only horse in the division with two Grade 1 wins, Zulu Alpha won a good Grade 1 in the Pegasus World Cup Turf and never threw a clunker, and Instilled Regard's spot could have gone to a lot of different horses, but I liked his big wins more than the other contenders. Next.

Female Turf Horse
1. Rushing Fall
2. Tarnawa
3. Starship Jubilee

I've seen a lot of votes go for Tarnawa, and I wouldn't be mad if she won it, given the strength of her globetrotting campaign and her impressive win against males in the Breeders' Cup Turf. However, as I laid out, I prefer to give it to a domestic horse if at all possible, and Rushing Fall came a hard-trying neck in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf away from a perfect campaign. The only thing missing from Rushing Fall's resume is an Eclipse Award, and I think she gets it here.

Steeplechase Horse
1. Abstain
2. Abstain
3. Abstain

I've had people say I should have my Eclipse vote taken away for abstaining from the steeplechase category every year. They don't seem to realize I abstain out of respect. Nothing in my job requires me to take even a passive interest in the steeplechase races. I know none of the players, the races are often held at venues I'm not familiar with in terms of geography or esteem, and I'm not aware of the unwritten class system that can separate one Grade 1 race from another (like how winning the Kentucky Derby means more than winning the Malibu Stakes). It's an entirely different culture.

If a group of basketball writers were brought in to decide the Eclipse Awards, people would erupt, and rightfully so. It would be disrespectful to the hard work done by an entire industry to have someone outside the circle decide who among them was the best. That's why I leave the steeplechase division to the people who know what they're doing, and don't let my uninformed vote interfere with that. Someone will get a trophy whether I vote or not.

Owner
1. Godolphin
2. Klaravich Stables
3. Gary Barber

Unless a partnership is practically synonymous with each other (like Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence were for a long time), I tend to see this award as one for individuals over groups. Barring outstanding circumstances like a Triple Crown winner, I look for solid high-level success in an Outstanding Owner candidate, with enough depth to fill out the ranks. Godolphin got its Grade 1 bona fides with probable champion Essential Quality and Fair Maiden, while finishing among the nation's leaders by wins, graded wins, and earnings. I could have put Klaravich Stables or Gary Barber in the top spot and slept just as well at night, but the blue team just stood out a little more for me this year.

Breeder
1. WinStar Farm
2. Godolphin
3. Peter E. Blum Thoroughbreds

My criteria is a little more fluid in this category than others. I like to reward a small breeder if they can pull multiple major stars out of a small broodmare band, but short of that, I've got to lean on the numbers and the big wins. WinStar Farm was responsible for the top two in my champion 3-year-old female voting – Swiss Skydiver and Shedaresthedevil – who accounted for the Preakness Stakes and Kentucky Oaks respectively. None of the other major players could match that duo, and that's before we add Grade 1 winners Global Campaign and Paris Lights to the fold.

Jockey
1. Irad Ortiz Jr.
2. Joel Rosario
3. John Velazquez

Irad Ortiz hit the big double of winning some of the sport's biggest races in 2020 while also showing up to work every day to compile impressive numbers. He netted two Breeders' Cup races and the Pegasus World Cup, while also comfortably leading the nation by both wins and earnings while racing on North America's top circuits. This decision was tougher than it sounds, but if the object of the game is to win races and make money, Irad did it the best.

Apprentice Jockey
1. Alexander Crispin
2. Yarmarie Correa
3. Santos Rivera

It was a tight race between the top two. Crispin finished second in the jockey standings at the long Delaware Park meet, and third during one of Laurel Park's meets, while also picking up a win in the First State Dash Stakes at Delaware Park. Correa won the riding title at Thistledown's long meet and is currently holding strong in the standings at Mahoning Valley Race Course. As much as I love the Midwest, the Mid-Atlantic circuit is deeper water, and the stakes win helped put Crispin on top.

Unrelated, since it was in an Arabian race and doesn't count in the Eclipse voting, but Crispin was also responsible for one of the best rides I've seen all year, both in the skill of the thing and the caliber of the horses he beat to do it. Remember what I said about different cultures in horse racing? Trust me when I tell you how big of an effort this was in the scope of Arabian racing.

Trainer
1. Brad Cox
2. Chad Brown
3. Steve Asmussen

Brad Cox won four Breeders' Cup races, including two of the biggest prizes: the Distaff and the Juvenile. He also took home the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks, La Troienne, and Breeders' Futurity, and he was near the top of the list in just about any meaningful category out there. Chad Brown had a ton of Grade 1 success, but a general lack of variety beyond turf races in those wins and a quiet Breeders' Cup put him in the place position. Steve Asmussen's giant barn put up its usual bulk numbers, and he had several Grade 1 trophies to fill it out at the top.

Horse of the Year
1. Authentic
2. Improbable
3. Monomoy Girl

If Authentic won the Breeders' Cup Classic, he was going to be Horse of the Year. If Improbable had won the Classic instead of running second to Authentic, he would have been Horse of the Year. If they both flopped and an upset winner took it, it would be hard to put a horse with just four starts on top, but Monomoy Girl would have certainly been a big one in that discussion.

As it stands, Authentic got hot at the right time when the Kentucky Derby was still going to be in May, he stayed hot over the summer when the Derby moved to September, and he blossomed into a star when it mattered most late in his campaign. Looking at the whole of the season for anyone with a serious bid at the title, nobody else made sense in the top spot.

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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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