{"id":47227,"date":"2018-11-01T07:53:56","date_gmt":"2018-11-01T11:53:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blacktypebugler.com\/?p=47227"},"modified":"2018-10-31T22:55:00","modified_gmt":"2018-11-01T02:55:00","slug":"bb-filly-mare-turf-race-extravaganza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/?p=47227","title":{"rendered":"BB Filly & Mare Turf Race Extravaganza"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good evening all. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology I preview this race for you while passing out candy on Halloween. I have often wondered why the Breeder’s Cup doesn’t tie into the holiday in terms of marketing and promotion. In case you are wondering I am passing out Almond Joy and Reese’s peanut butter cups, both my preferred choice in chocolate treats. A costume you may ask? It is William Wallace this year. Any excuse to wear a kilt you have to take advantage of wouldn’t you agree? With those details documented let’s take a look at the magnificent racing spectacle before us set to take place Saturday afternoon.<\/span><\/p>\n

I do not write race previews all that often so for those of you who are unfamiliar with my overviews I don’t pick a winner. For one, it is a tremendous accomplishment just to have a horse to make it into a race like this and for two, I have a horse in this race so of course I would be biased! In any event if you have a horse in this race you already are hoping\/thinking you can win and if you don’t you just want to hear a good story or at the very least something interesting correct? Hopefully I can accomplish that this evening. The F&M turf is run at 11 furlongs on, well, the turf. It is one of the premier turf events of the BB and draws the best fillies and mares in the country to contest a purse of $3,000,000 and a big, shiny prestigious trophy. I will both be discussing the fillies (for semantic purposes I am just going to call them fillies instead of fillies and mares) on track performances and their pedigrees. From a broad perspective our full field of 14 entrants is divided rather evenly between five 5yos, five 4yos and four 3yos. You really couldn’t balance that any better. Funny how things work out sometimes don’t you think? Half of our fourteen runners are millionaires. There are eight G1 winners in the group, two G2 winners, two G3 winners and two open stakes winners. One runner was a former claimer who ascended from those low ranks all the way to this lofty field. The race has drawn plenty of blue blood sires including Galileo, Dubawi, Frankel, Pivotal, Duramente, Sea the Stars, Australia, Golden Horn, Scat Daddy, Honor Code, Uncle Mo, Americain and the only sire with two runners in the event, Kitten’s Joy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Drawing the 1 spot is\u00a0\u00a0Panda Panda Panda\u00a0<\/strong>run by\u00a0Redhill25\u00a0<\/em>a G2 winner and one of several going off at 8\/1 odds. TriPanda (for short) is a 4yo scratch bred who has a pedigree of Frankel x Kingmambo x Storm Cat. She comes off a 2nd place finish in the 12f G1 Vermillion Stakes in France where she posted a 114 SP. She was entered in that race after winning the 13f G3 Pamona also in France with a 107 SP by 3 lengths on soft yielding turf. It is worth noting that the F&M turf will be run on good turf Saturday. TriPanda is 2\/2 on off turf also winning an allowance this year at this races distance of 11f with a 112 by 4+ lengths. Those are her two wins in 2018. She was good enough to run in Equinics this year contesting the 14f event where she placed 4th. She is a consistent horse who has only finished worse than 4th once this season and that was at 10f which was the shortest distance she has run. TriPanda excels at longer distances which may be the only thing against her in this event. Her closing style keeps her at the back of the back and you wonder if she will have enough ground in this race. While she seems her best at 12-13 furlongs it worth nothing that her largest margin of victory this season did come at 11 furlongs. This was in allowance company, her only allowance race of the year so what that means is up to the bettor.\u00a0 She enters this race on an intriguing 13 furlong > 12 furlong > 11 furlong preparation pattern.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Grade one winner\u00a0Defcon Swag\u00a0<\/strong>by\u00a0MTK<\/em> has drawn the second spot. Defcon is a 3yo filly going off at the long odds of 42\/1, however, since she is a 3yo there is a tendency for those to be inflated and not represent a true indication of the horses ability. Defcon has a pedigree of Honor Code x Rip VanWinkle x Kingmambo and is bred from the mare\u00a0Swagger Jack<\/strong> who has now produced two G1 winners, the other being by Competitive Edge. Defcon has only three wins in her career, though two of them are graded stakes. A back to back set of wins in Germany qualified her for this event with wins in the G2 11f Diana Trial 99 SP and the 11f Diana Grand Prix 101 SP. Those victories sent her to the Irish Oaks where she finished 4th. She also ran 4th, losing to TriPanda in the Vermillion stakes which was her first contest against older fillies. She ran a career high 106 in the Vermillion. Like TriPanda, Defcon has two wins this season. She enters the race on a 12f > 12f > 11f training schedule and will to benefit from a large jump in SP to stay with the top runners in this race. Fortunately three year olds often take large leaps in ability so that is not out of the realm of possibility.<\/p>\n

The Vermillion was a major prep for this race and readers of Look of Eagles will be well versed in the importance of this prep as I had my horse Lamballe aiming for this event there.\u00a0Pun For All Ages\u00a0<\/strong>run by\u00a0Dixiedot\u00a0<\/em>is another horse to come out of the Vermillion where she ran 3rd with a 113. The 5yo G1 winner is bred from the G1 winning mare\u00a0Jeu de Mot\u00a0<\/strong>(which means Word Game) who also has bred two G1 winners, the other being by Deep Impact. We can see how rich this race in pedigree as already there are two runners representing mares who have produced multiple G1 winners. Pivotal x Montjeu x Nijinsky is the pedigree backing up Pun. Dixie has taken successful precautions to keep the older Pun in quality form by limiting her to six races this seasons, two of which she has won both open stakes. Pun used a similar prep schedule last year where she blew out the field in the Vermillion winning by four lengths which propelled her to a second place finish in this race losing by an excruciating half a length to\u00a0Koko’s Kitten.\u00a0<\/strong>The two of them will renew their struggle again this year with odds makers giving Pun a slight edge at 7\/1 over Koko’s 8\/1. Pun has the ability to both sit off the lead or to go straight to the front as the tactics of the race determine. She will be a major factor in defining the pace of this race.<\/p>\n

Shady Song\u00a0<\/strong>run by Chilichili\u00a0<\/i>is another 3yo who has been assigned long odds of 30\/1. Should one of these youngsters step up and win this there is going to be a large payout at the betting windows. Shady Song represents the prestigious turf stallion Galileo in this race and is in fact quite closely bred to Sadler’s Wells being a Galileo x Unbridled’s Song x Sadler’s Wells from the SW mare\u00a0Harbor Town<\/strong>. Harbor Town is another top end producing mare who has sent out two G2 winners and a G3 winner to the track, both of the others by Lea and Starspangledbanner, good but not prominent sires you Chili rightly wondered what she would do with high end stallions. Galileo and Frankel have been the last two to her dance card. Shady has three wins in her career and has been on the board in 9 of her 12 starts. Her G3 win came in the 10.5f Penelope Cruz. She lost to Defcon in the G1 Diana where she placed 2nd, then beat her in the Irish Oaks though again she ran second. Like Defcon she faced older for the first time last race in the G1 British Champion Gals where again like Defcon, she ran 4th with a 108 SP. There is not much to distinguish between Defcon and Shady Song as they are both fairly equally matched. Shady Song is a deep closer who will need to pass a lot of good horses to hit the wire first.<\/p>\n

Thehobbitthesofa\u00a0<\/strong>running for Eminc2\u00a0<\/i>is the longest shot on the board at 45\/1. She is a 3yo by Duramente out of the Galileo x Storm Cat mare Symbiosis. I am not sure what her name means so I’m going to call her Hobby. Hobby put together an impressive three race winning streak this season going 4L four length win, 10f G2 Griffen, 10.5f G1 French Diana. The Griffen was on yielding turf. Unfortunately after this streak of excellence, Hobby was beaten by 16 lengths in the Irish Oaks then lost by 13 in the 10f G1 Friendly Wager her first time against older. Eminc2 rightly concluded that at 14 races in her career it was time for a break and they gave Hobby an extended rest lasting from late July until now. I think the break will get Hobby back on track but I don’t like her coming into a race of this difficulty on a 13 week layoff. Then again if you a G1 winner who qualifies for this race you have to take a shot don’t you?<\/p>\n

Lightly raced\u00a0Otto Orlando\u00a0<\/strong>run by\u00a0Kaner\u00a0<\/em>is a 5yo daughter of deceased super sire Scat Daddy who has the same amount of 14 starts as Hobby. She became a G1 winner last time out taking the British Champion Gals with a top end SP time of 115. Orlando is a scratch bred matching up Scat Daddy with Danzig x Secretariat. She has been sent off at 8\/1 and has to be considered a major threat in this race. While it is difficult to win back to back G1s, she does look like she could be transitioning into a major runner. She comes into the race on an 11 > 12 > 11 pattern and combined with her ability to throw the big time SP along with a pedigree that exudes blue blooded class makes her one of the wise guys favorites in this race. Orlando has speed to spare, leading the British Champion by six lengths at one point, and an open stakes earlier in the year by seven lengths. She will ensure a hot pace and other fillies at the front will need to tread cautiously or burn themselves out. Could set up a hot pace duel where it benefits the closers, or could just wire to wire the field as she stamps this as her coming out party on the world wide stage.<\/p>\n

Trick or Treating is over, but not the career of\u00a0Koko’s Kitten\u00a0<\/strong>trained by Given<\/em> has not yet ended and he looks to send her out on a high note as a back to back winner in the BB. As noted, she won this race last season, one of twelve career wins which have added up to a king’s ransom of $4.4 million in career earnings. Koko is a scratch bred Kitten’s Joy x Mr. Prospector x Danehill. She hasn’t hit the winner’s circle in graded company this year, registering only two wins an allowance and an open stakes which was way back in January, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. She has a trio of impressive 2nd place finishes in G1 races including the 14f Equinics. a gender defying 2nd in the Sand Castle Golden Turf and in the 10f Yorkshire Oaks two back. And yet, she ran very poorly in her last race, an allowance prep where she ran 3rd. Now maybe she wasn’t completely dialed up for this race or maybe she just hit that dreaded 25 race barrier and isn’t quite the same filly she once was. The question may well be is a 90% Koko’s Kitten good enough to repeat? Will she have one final day of summer, one last scintillating performance that amazes the grandstand and give us a glimpse of immortality? She is a late runner who others near the back will be keeping an eye upon. Do they move when Koko moves or look to get first jump on her? Intriguing questions abound on this champion mare in what may be the final race of her career.<\/p>\n

Sea Cadet Run\u00a0<\/strong>came into the British Champion Gals on a four race winning streak having moved through her allowance conditions, winning an open stakes (on good turf) and taking on graded company for the first time. The lightly raced 4yo trained by Litde\u00a0<\/em>came oh so close finishing a closing second with a 113 SP. By any measure that was an excellent first stab at G1 company. Sea Cadet has been on the board in 9 of 11 career races and looks to be an extremely dangerous in this spot and great value at 12\/1. She is the first runner, by Sea the Starts, from her SW mom Cadet Mountain with a back end of Montjeu x Jade Hunter. This is our second runner in this race with Montjeu as the DS.\u00a0 One note of concern is that Sea Cadet has never run at today’s distance. She also must manager her running style which tends to be near the front of the pack, sometimes on the lead. A contested duel may develop between her and Otto Orlando. Much may depend on jockey choices between these two horses and P Wright and A Jolly will need to be on top of their games.<\/p>\n

Another lively 8\/1 choice coming out of the British Champion Gals is\u00a0Therese’s Terror\u00a0<\/strong>run by\u00a0Benress.<\/em>\u00a0Although she has not yet won a graded race, the 4yo daughter of Australia carries her reputation forward based on a 115 SP recorded in a 2nd place finish in the G2 Landshark Oaks. Combine that with her 3rd place finish in the British Gals and you see the gems of potential which could rise the surface giving way to the grand G1 win. The hauntingly named Therese is a scratch bred with a back end of Montjeu x Danehill giving us three DS representatives for Montjeu. Another pedigree note here is that Therese is inbred 3×3 to Sadler’s Wells. Since we have two runners in this race being closely inbred to Sadler’s Wells breeders shouldn’t hesitate to combine Galileo sons with Sadler’s Wells blood mares. Therese has steadily improved in G1 company going from a 10th place finish to a 5th place finish to a 3rd place mark. This steady progression leads us to believe she has the class to be a G1 winner. She runs toward the back of the pack.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Would you take 22\/1 odds on a horse who has won 9 of 12 races, three G1s and over $2 million in earnings? That is the scenario playing out for\u00a0Final Realm\u00a0<\/strong>run by\u00a0Crazyjoe.\u00a0<\/em>Welcome to the BB the winner of six straight this season, including the Sydney, English and Irish Oaks. A daughter of Uncle Mo, the normally dirt influenced stallion has a daughter here who simply dominated the turf classics. She is out of the G1 winning Frankel x Sea the Stars mare Devil’s Dragon. She is the #1 ranked 3yo turf horse and looked like she was going to be the favorite in this race a few months ago. However, her last two races have thrown things into chaos and have left many people jumping off her bandwagon. Facing older for the first time in the Vermillion she was beaten by 13 lengths and finished 6th. Perhaps too aggressively she was put into the Arc after that performance where she was thoroughly thrashed by the colts coming home 23 lengths behind in 17th. Can she recover from two bad losses in such a short time? This will be her third difficult G1 race in a span of 6 weeks at the conclusion of a G1 intensive campaign. Most bettors think this race won’t go well for Final Realm hence the long odds, however, we must remember this horse was at one time the best turf 3yo in the world and it wasn’t close. She was after all 9\/10 before her last two races.<\/p>\n

Kitten’s Joy has the honor of being the only stallion to get two entrants into this race as he shows up here with\u00a0Just Joy\u00a0<\/strong>run by Dalegend<\/em>.\u00a0<\/em>Just Joy has the added distinction of being the only filly in this race to have run in a claiming event. Joy was placed in a claiming even following a 3rd place finish in a 2L. The placement was a bit perplexing as she broke her maiden with a 94 SP two races back and ran a 90 in the 2L. Even more odd she was put in a rather risk free cheap 30K claimer! In any even Dalegend grabbed her and the rest is history. Joy would win three open stakes before taking down her first graded win the G2 Sheepherder Beach this May at 11f where she lit up the board with a 116 SP. That didn’t carry over to the G1 Princess Di Cap where she only ran a 96 but after a break she came back at 11 furlongs in the G3 The Glen if Falling to record a 111 SP 2nd place. Now maybe she has a G1 class barrier or maybe she just had a bad day in the Di Cap. It looks like she certainly loves 11 furlongs and has show she is capable of producing a time fast enough to win this race. She is out of the G2 winning mare Mia Went West. One interesting fact about Mia is that her breeder doesn’t have much patience for her runners. She has been bred to Galileo, Kitten’s Joy and Deep Impact and all have been put into claimers. She has a Galileo daughter this year who has not as yet been put in claims but those willing to do some legwork may want to track her as history suggests she might be in one at some point.<\/p>\n

Antees\u00a0<\/em>has entered ten timer winner\u00a0Big Bad Bawi<\/strong> an intimidating 5yo mare by Dubawi. She is the 2nd favorite in this race at 6\/1 odds. She is one of three stakes winners produced by her mom\u00a0Bish Bash Bosh\u00a0<\/strong>the others hailing from Ghostzapper and Dubawi again. This pulls together a rather regal pedigree of Dubawi x Dynaformer x Northern Dancer. Interestingly, BBB has only raced four times this season running 2nd, 1st, 1st, and 4th in her quartet of contests. One of the firsts was a trip to the winner circle in the G1 10f Yolkshire Oaks and one was at today’s distance of 11 furlongs in an open stakes. She finished 4th in her prep for this race where she flattened out and never made a threatening run. BBB contested the F&M last season where she ran 7th, unable to wind her way through the pack to the front as she chased Koko’s Kitten. The oddsmakers confidence likely stems from a stretch last season where she ran a 118, 117 and 116 in a row exhibiting plenty of speed. Ultimately she might be too lightly raced this season and will have to rely upon previous form and a 12 > 12 > 11 distance drop to get first run on the closer in her push to the wire.<\/p>\n

And, now only 3000 or so words into the article we at last get to my entry. You certainly can’t say I was short changing anyone if it took me that much text to get us here. In no small bit of irony, my filly\u00a0Hillary Rodham\u00a0<\/strong>will be running the same week in which elections are taking place here in America. Obviously, she was bred a couple years ago during the late summer of the presidential election season. She broke her maiden in her third start that November, after Hillary had lost and taking a bit of the shine off her career anticipation. A daugher of Golden Horn, she looked like she was going to be a disappointment as she didn’t win another race until the GR Simsters English Oaks where she blew out the field with a 4 length win getting her first black type trophy. Unfortunately she didn’t carry over that winning as she lost her next race a conservatively entered allowance event running 4th despite a 102 SP. Her trainer made a rather dumb move placing her G3 company after that becoming a poster child for what was he thinking and Hillary proceeded to finish 9th. A losing try in a her first attempt at sprint concluded her 3yo season and Hillary was, like the candidate, well on her way to be forgotten. 2018 was a new year however, and promised hope and change and another chance if not to make America great again, then perhaps to make America sane again. Hillary opened the year with a win at 12.5f\u00a0 which would be the first win in a stretch where she would find her way to the winner’s circle three out of four times in the process bringing home two stakes trophies. After this stretch I had the confidence to enter her into graded company again where she ran 4th in the Landshark Oaks at 12. Cutting back to 11 she won the G3 Glen is Falling Handicap with a 114 SP. Surveying the preps for this race I saw many of these fillies in this race entered in the G1 events. I knew I would need to run first or second to get into this field (and even then it was close go, Hillary was 13th in stakes points and it was a nervous a couple weeks waiting to see if she was going to draw in). I settled on the G1 Liz\u00a0 Taylor in ON for a couple reasons. First, I liked the prep pattern I was going 13>12>11>10 then would be going up to 11 for the F&M. Second I was going to be America so I wouldn’t have to put Hillary through a lot of travel heading into this race. I knew I was taking a risk entering a 10f race instead of a 12f one since the stakes points would be far less but I figured that unless I ran 1st or 2nd I wasn’t going to have a shot in the F&M anyway, so away we went. Hillary ran a closing 2nd in the Liz Taylor and I felt confident that if the race were a furlong longer she would have run. The G1 class barrier was successfully passed. I felt Hillary was sitting on a big race at 11, now if only she could draw into the field.<\/p>\n

Fortune favored her and she pulled in. I must have checked the pending entries nine or ten times in the last two weeks. Hillary has speed to compete here, is in form and appears set up to have a big race at the distance. Against that she will face the most difficult field of her career. To prepare her for this I called in J Stivers from France for the mount. Stivers has been a 25%\/50% rider this year, has experience and knows the ups and downs of a turf course. Genetically, Hillary is by Golden Horn whom I have supported on a regular basis in the SIM. He was one of the turf horses I really liked on the track and thought he would be a good stallion to give breedings. She is the first offspring of the mare\u00a0Angel Quest\u00a0<\/strong>who is Dansili x Galileo. It is always interesting what breedings a mare gets as when Angel Quest was bred a second time Hillary was rather disappointing so she got Pride of Dubai, not a bum but not a high profile stallion either. This season when Hillary was getting good but not graded quality good I upped the stallion share to Charm Spirit who is sneaky good in the SIM. Now that Hillary has become G1 competitive I am sure Angel Quest will get a prominent stallion next season. Hillary stalks the pace and, if Stivers avoids the speed duel up front, she may be well placed for a winning run.<\/p>\n

Our final entry completing the fourteen horse field is the 5\/1 favorite\u00a0Stars Might Shine\u00a0<\/strong>run by\u00a0Almaarad.<\/em>\u00a0Stars is a 5yo by Americain from the G1 winning mare\u00a0Surf the Turf\u00a0<\/strong>who is something of a foundation mare for Almaarad producing four stakes winners and five offspring who have produced horses of their own. Stars has run her last nine races at 11 furlongs so as you may guess she is something of an 11 furlong specialist, or at least has been run that way. She runs mid pack and will bridge the gap between the fillies on the lead and the closers. Stars has put up consistent, spectacular times posting 118 twice, 117, 115 and 114s at this distance. A large red flag however is that she is 0-2 on an offtrack. The last time she ran on an off track she went from a 118 to a 100 finishing 7th. Now maybe she bounced (though she has run a 117 before that 118) but for a horse as consistent as Stars has been that is warning flag and maybe an unlucky break with the weather. It is rather remarkable that Stars has maintained such consistency while running at the same distance for over a year. If she runs well or off you could say the PPs told us exactly what was going to happen either way. Great name for a filly and reminds me of the climactic scene in Stardust.<\/p>\n

A big congrats to all the trainers who brought these fourteen fillies into the race today. You survived long odds, crossed many obstacles and brought your horse to the pinnacle of the racing world. One step away from immortality. Who will take it?\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Good evening all. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology I preview this race for you while passing out candy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":459,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/459"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47227"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47243,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47227\/revisions\/47243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}