DEL MAR, Calif. - Immersive completed an undefeated and what will ultimately be championship season in style, drawing off to a convincing 4 1/2-length victory over Vodka With a Twist Friday at Del Mar in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
Immersive came into the race as the only two-time Grade 1 winner in the field, having rallied to 1 1/4-length tallies in both the seven-furlong Spinaway at Saratoga and the Alcibiades at Keeneland in her first try at the 1 1/16-mile distance of the Juvenile Fillies, which made her the only member of the field with a win around two turns.
With regular rider Manny Franco aboard, Immersive settled in mid-pack during the early stages, six lengths off the blistering pace set by Nooni, who posted splits of 22.00 seconds for the opening quarter and 44.99 to the half. Immersive originally appeared not to be responding when Franco asked for her run approaching the three-furlong marker, dropping several lengths behind both Vodka With a Twist and Scottish Lassie, who were also launching their bids at that point on the second turn.
But Immersive suddenly found her best stride leaving the quarter pole, rallying four wide into the stretch before running down the two leaders and drawing away with complete authority in the final furlong.
Vodka With a Twist saved ground, overtook the tiring Nooni nearing the quarter pole, dueled on the front end with Scottish Lassie through early stretch, but proved no match when engaged by the winner, although she easily outlasted the late-striding Quickick by 1 1/2 lengths to be second best.
Scottish Lassie, the only other Grade 1 winner in the lineup coming off a resounding nine-length victory in the Frizette at Aqueduct in her previous start, could not replicate that effort trying two turns for the first time in the Juvenile Fillies, shortening stride steadily through the final furlong to finish fourth.
La Cara, a leg-weary Nooni, Otomena Shacho, Snowyte, and American Bikini rounded out the complete order of finish.
Immersive is a homebred daughter of Nyquist trained by Brad Cox for Godolphin LLC. Cox also won the Juvenile Fillies with British Idiom in 2019.
Immersive completed the distance over a fast track in 1:44.36 seconds and earned an 84 Beyer Speed Figure. She paid $6.
“I got a little concerned on the far turn when I kind of thought she might be losing contact with the field a little bit,” Cox admitted. “But at the three-eighths pole at Keeneland [in the Alcibiades], she came off the bridle a little bit and still showed the ability to stay on. And once turning for home today, she really looked like she had dead aim on the top two.”
Cox said despite the fact Immersive was overlooked in the betting in her debut at 10-1, he’d thought highly of the filly from the time she came to him from Ocala earlier in the year.
“When she started breezing she appeared to have had speed and stamina and stamped herself a very good horse right from the start or we wouldn’t have put her on a van from Kentucky to Saratoga this summer,” said Cox. “I don’t know why she was such a big price the first time she ran. I didn’t bet her, but I wish I had.”
Cox said he would give Immersive some time off before putting her on a path towards the first goal of her 3-year-old season, the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs.
“She’s obviously shown she should handle the distance, we’ve seen that in her last two runs,” Cox said. “We’ll back off her now, then come up with a plan to get her to the first Friday in May.”
Trainer Phil D’Amato was also looking forward to the future with Vodka With a Twist, who was stretching out beyond seven furlongs for the first time in the Juvenile Fillies.
“I’m proud of my filly, I thought she fought on valiantly for the first time going long against real accomplished fillies,” D’Amato noted. “And Irad [Ortiz Jr.] said he thought there’s much more room for improvement. We’ll gradually take it race by race, and hopefully she’s going to be a nice 3-year-old.”
Trainer Tom Amoss also felt Quickick ran well to finish third despite breaking slow and dropping about a dozen lengths off the early leaders in the run down the backstretch.
“I was disappointed where we were during the early stages, I didn’t foresee that,” Amoss said immediately after the race. “I know she’s a filly without a lot of speed, but she had been so focused since she’s come here I expected her to be closer. I think we gave her an impossible task, and with all that was done, I thought she ran a very good race.”
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