The flashy workouts are finished for She Feels Pretty, who will start as the leading domestic hope in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 1.
She Feels Pretty breezed a half-mile in 48 seconds at Keeneland on Oct. 10, with “a huge gallop-out”, trainer Cherie DeVaux said. On Friday at Keeneland, She Feels Pretty worked the same distance in a more leisurely 49 seconds.
“She had a nice gallop-out, but we kept her from doing too much,” DeVaux said.
DeVaux described Friday’s workout as “a nice maintenance half, well in hand.”
“She’s fit and she’s happy and she’s moving well.”
Owned by Roy and Gretchen Jackson’s Lael Stables, She Feels Pretty has won 8 of 12 starts and finished second or third in her losses. A seven-time stakes winner, She Feels Pretty won the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf for fillies and mares at Woodbine on Aug. 16, earning a fees-paid berth to the BC Filly and Mare Turf at 1 3/8 miles.
She Feels Pretty is expected to be favored over the French 3-year-old filly Gezora in the BC Filly and Mare Turf, which is likely to have a full field of 14.
Gezora won the Group 1 French Oaks at Chantilly in June, but was 13th of 17 in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at 1 1/2 miles at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris on Oct. 4. Gezora was farther back in that field than preferred, trainer Francis-Henri Graffard said earlier this month.
She Feels Pretty is likely to stay in training in 2026 as a 5-year-old, DeVaux said.
“It depends on how she comes out of the” Breeders’ Cup, DeVaux said. “After the race, we’ll come up with a more firm plan. As of right now, it’s all systems go.
“As long as she’s happy, I believe that’s what the Jacksons would like to do.”
On Friday, Rebel Red, DeVaux’s hope for the $5 million BC Turf at 1 1/2 miles on Nov. 1, breezed a half-mile in 48.40 seconds.
“The best part was the latter part of it when he had a nice gallop out,” DeVaux said.
Rebel Red, rated as an outsider in the BC Turf, has yet to win a graded stakes, and has had mixed form since mid-summer. He finished seventh of nine as the 7-2 third choice in the Grade 2 United Nations Stakes at Monmouth Park on July 19, and was a fast-closing second after a wide trip in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 9. In his latest appearance, Rebel Red was last of five after following a slow pace in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Aqueduct on Sept. 27.
“He’s put in great races,” DeVaux said. “He’s coming off a lackluster effort. It was the way the race unfolded - the small field, no pace, and the complexity didn’t change. Everyone ran in place all the way around.
“He’s done that and come back. He ran just okay in the United Nations and it wasn’t something to be excited about, and he ran a huge race in the Sword Dancer.”
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At Churchill Downs on Friday, Infinite Sky, bound for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at a mile on Oct. 31, breezed a half-mile in 50 seconds. In a text message, trainer Brad Cox described the exercise as a “nice, easy half.”
Infinite Sky overcame a troubled start to finish second by a length to Juvenile Fillies Turf hopeful Imaginationthelady in the Grade 2 Jessamine Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on turf at Keeneland on Oct. 3 in her stakes debut. Infinite Sky, owned by Godolphin, closed from last of 11 in the Jessamine and was closest to the front at the finish.
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