The Friday card at the Breeders' Cup World Championships has come to be known as Future Stars Friday in recent years. The name certainly fits the $2 million Juvenile Fillies (G1) at Del Mar Nov. 1, when 11 talented runners look to capture the race that clinched the division's Eclipse Award for each winner since 2014.
"We're focused on trying to win this race and making her champion 2-year-old filly," said Brad Cox, trainer of Immersive. "At that point, what else do you have to prove in regards to being a racehorse?"
Immersive has likely already clinched a spot as an Eclipse Award finalist thanks to victories in the Aug. 31 Spinaway Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course and Oct. 4 Alcibiades Stakes (G1), traveling the Juvenile Fillies' 1 1/16-mile distance, at Keeneland.
Cox gains confidence because the 2-year-old filly already has handled shipping and winning multiple times from her Churchill Downs base in Louisville, Ky., something his 2019 Juvenile Fillies winner British Idiom displayed ahead of victory at Santa Anita Park.
"She's shown the ability to train at Churchill and ship up to Saratoga and run off a van," Cox said. "That gives you (more) confidence as opposed to who she's beat."
WATCH: Three Things You Might Not Know About Immersive
West Coast Runners
Any eastern challenger in a grade 1 dirt race in California has to overcome the home team, which again is led by Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert. In search of his first Juvenile Fillies victory since 2007, Baffert entered the top two finishers of the Oct. 5 Oak Leaf Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita. However, he is left with just runner-up Nooni as Non Compliant was scratched Oct. 29.
Racing in the colors of Zedan Racing Stables, Nooni won her first two starts, including a 1 1/2-length victory at Del Mar Aug. 10 in the Sorrento Stakes (G3). In the Sept. 7 Del Mar Debutante (G1), Nooni had to check sharply approaching the quarter pole after being passed by Vodka With a Twist, fading to fifth as the odds-on favorite. Although defeated in the Oak Leaf as the pacesetter, it was a strong bounce-back effort.
She is one of four contenders by first-crop stallions in the field, representing Ocala Stud's Win Win Win . Vodka With a Twist is another, as she represents Spendthrift's Thousand Words .
Vodka With a Twist, who was second to Nooni in the Sorrento, was caught on the wire in the Del Mar Debutante and has been rested since in preparation for her first start around two turns. A stakes winner trained by Phil D'Amato, she races for Medallion Racing, Omar Aldabbagh, William Strauss, BlackRidge Stables, and Schwing Thoroughbreds.
East Coast Runners
The field finds its second grade 1-winning participant in Sportsmen Stable, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Photos Finish, Corms Racing Stable, and trainer Jorge Abreu's Frizette Stakes (G1) winner Scottish Lassie, who pounced on the leader at the Aqueduct Racetrack quarter pole and drew off to win by nine lengths.
Second in the Oct. 5 Frizette was Pine Racing Stables, Don Alberto Stable, Belmar Racing and Breeding, and R. A. Hill Stable's Snowyte. The Danny Gargan-trained filly enters the Breeders' Cup as a maiden with two runner-up performances in two starts. Her sire, Good Magic , broke his maiden in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) at Del Mar in 2017.
Prior to the Frizette, Snowyte finished ahead of Scottish Lassie in a Sept. 1 Saratoga maiden race that was won by Greg Tramontin's Quickick. Quickick returned to finish second behind Immersive in the Alcibiades.
"Quickick is always the horse I knew would be better going two turns than one," said trainer Tom Amoss. "(Quickick) laid off a slow pace (in the Alcibiades), had to come around everybody. She made a mistake not switching leads down the lane. We think there's improvement to be had there."
Quickick and Scottish Lassie are both by first-crop Gainesway stallion McKinzie .
Defeating Quickick in her debut at Saratoga Aug. 11 was Tracy Farmer's La Cara. Following that eight-length triumph, La Cara returned a graded stakes winner in the Pocahontas Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs Sept. 14 for Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse.
Threats from Japan
The Japanese bring a pair carrying American pedigrees with Silk Racing's American Bikini, a daughter of American Pharoah out of a Bernardini mare, and Miki House H.K. Service's Otomena Shacho, by Speightstown out of a Curlin mare.
American Bikini is 2-for-3 with a runner-up effort on debut for trainer Takashi Saito. She broke her maiden by seven lengths in July before returning from a two-month layoff to win the Yamaboshi Sho at Chukyo against colts by 2 1/2 lengths Sept. 28.
Trained by Hideyuki Mori, Otomena Shacho is 1-1-1 from three starts, finishing second to American Bikini in that July maiden race at Kokura before breaking her maiden Sept. 15 by five lengths at Chukyo.
Del Mar, Friday, November 1, 2024, Race 7Entries: NetJets Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Vodka With a Twist (KY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 122 Philip D'Amato 20/1 2 2Snowyte (KY) Luis Saez 122 Danny Gargan 15/1 3 3Immersive (KY) Manuel Franco 122 Brad H. Cox 3/1 4 4La Cara (KY) Ricardo Santana, Jr. 122 Mark E. Casse 12/1 5 5Quickick (KY) Dylan Davis 122 Thomas M. Amoss 10/1 6 6Otomena Shacho (KY) Yuga Kawada 122 Hideyuki Mori 20/1 7 7Non Compliant (KY) Juan J. Hernandez 122 Bob Baffert 9/2 8 8Nooni (FL) Flavien Prat 122 Bob Baffert 15/1 9 9American Bikini (JPN) Ryan L. Moore 122 Takashi Saito 5/1 10 10Scottish Lassie (KY) Jose Lezcano 122 Jorge R. Abreu 5/2
