On a crisp, fall morning beneath the Twin Spires, $2 million Breeders' Cup Mile (Grade 1) contender Got Stormy along with $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) competitor Juju's Map logged their final works at Churchill Downs on Friday prior to the world championship event at Del Mar on Nov. 5-6.
Owned by My Racehorse Stable and Spendthrift Farm, Got Stormy had her final career breeze at 7:30 a.m. (all times Eastern) under jockey Declan Carroll. The duo cruised a half-mile in :48.60. Two hours earlier, Albaugh Family Stables' Juju's Map clipped five furlongs in :59.60 with jockey Florent Geroux in the saddle outside of stablemate Matera (five furlongs, :59.80).
Got Stormy, a multiple Grade 1-winning mare by Get Stormy, finished second in the 2019 Breeders' Cup Mile at Santa Anita.
“We had some rain in the area but the track was really good so I decided to move her work up a day,” trainer Mark Casse's assistant David Carroll said. “Sometimes you see with older mares that they may take a step back from their younger campaigns but she has been doing great. I'm really excited the way she's coming into the Breeders' Cup. She's a very special mare to all of us.”
Got Stormy, along with about 12 other locally-based Breeders' Cup contenders, will ship to Del Mar on Monday.
Juju's Map completed her major preparation for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies for trainer Brad Cox. A recent winner of the $400,000 Alcibiades (G1) at Keeneland, Juju's Map is one of six local contenders for Cox.
“Today's work was with an older horse in Matera,” Cox said. “She's a stakes winner in her own right so she's a pretty tough workmate. 'Juju' sat just off her and maybe broke about a length behind. She was well in hand throughout the work and it was exactly what we were looking for at this stage. This filly seemed to improve a little bit since her win in the Alcibiades, which is what these horses need to do this time of year leading into the Breeders' Cup.”
Cox won the 2019 Juvenile Fillies with British Idiom but Geroux will be searching for his first victory in the race.
“She worked a really solid five furlongs and it was a really nice move being a week out from the race,” Geroux said. “She was able to stay relaxed throughout the work, which was important when you're working in company. She seems to be coming into the race in great shape.”
There are six Breeders' Cup contenders scheduled to work Saturday morning at Churchill Downs: Essential Quality (Classic), Knicks Go (Classic), Shedaresthedevil (Distaff), Rattle N Roll (Juvenile), Ready to Purrform (Juvenile Turf) and Turnerloose (Juvenile Fillies Turf).
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