Undefeated in two career starts, Lennilu has given trainer Patrick Biancone confidence that the 2-year-old filly is ready to take on Royal Ascot.
"I think we have the right horse to do that," Biancone said May 28.
Lennilu, owned in partnership by owned by Amy Dunne, Caitlin Dunne, Brenda Miley, Jean Wilkinson, Hoffman Family Racing, Tranquility Lake Farm, Maury Harrington, and Christopher Harrington, earned a stakes berth at the Royal Ascot meeting (June 17-21) with her 3 3/4-length romp in the Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies Stakes May 10 at Gulfstream Park.
Video: Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies S. (BT)
The daughter of first-crop sire Leinster debuted April 6 at Keeneland with a length victory in a 4 1/2-furlong maiden special weight race on dirt. In the five-furlong Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies, in which she prompted the early pace before taking over and drawing clear, Lennilu took to the turf in a big way to earn her trip to England.
"She's doing good," Biancone said. "Everything is going perfectly. She will be leaving the 10th for Newmarket and will run June 18 at Ascot."
Lennilu returned to the work tab at Palm Meadows Training Center, Gulfstream's satellite training facility in Palm Beach County, May 22 with an easy half-mile breeze in :49.65 in preparation for a planned start in Ascot's Queen Mary Stakes (G2) June 18. Like the Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies, the Queen Mary will be contested at five furlongs on turf. Two years ago, the George Weaver-trained Crimson Advocate sequed a victory in the Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies to success in the Queen Mary.
The Biancone-trained Squire, a first-out winner at Gulfstream April 18 and runner-up in the Royal Palm Juvenile, will not be accompanying his stablemate to the royal meeting.
"Squire, we gave him a break. He wasn't mature enough mentally to go to Ascot," Biancone said. "He went back to the farm to relax a little bit for a month and come back in a month."
Squire is also from the freshman crop of Leinster, who stands the 2025 breeding season for a modest $2,500 fee at Pleasant Acres Stallions near Morriston, Fla.
This press release has been edited for content and style by BloodHorse Staff.
