DEL MAR, Calif. – It was a big surprise to many when trainer Jorge Abreu sent out Jody’s Pride at 17-1 to finish second, beaten a neck by Just F Y I, in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita. But it should come as little surprise to anyone if Abreu finally registers his first Breeders’ Cup victory when he returns in the same event Friday at Del Mar with likely favorite Scottish Lassie.
The $2 million Juvenile Fillies will be decided at 1 1/16 miles on the main track and drew an original field of 10 which will be reduced to nine starters with the announcement early Tuesday afternoon that undefeated Grade 2 winner Non Compliant will be scratched.
Scottish Lassie is long on talent but light on experience. She enters the Juvenile Fillies having started just twice. She finished a disappointing third when backed to 9-5 favoritism in her debut going seven furlongs at Saratoga on Sept. 1, before bouncing back with an eye-catching nine-length victory in the Grade 1 Frizette, giving Abreu the first graded stakes win of his career. Scottish Lassie earned a 90 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort, easily the best posted by any member of the Juvenile Fillies lineup.
Abreu knew Scottish Lassie was a good one early on, especially after she got the better of no less a workmate than Jody’s Pride herself on a couple of occasions leading up to her explosive performance in the one-mile Frizette.
“Jody was obviously already proven and a Grade 1-caliber horse, so I kept her as a workmate for this filly so we knew where we stood,” said Abreu. “I’ll admit I was surprised by the margin of her win in the Frizette, but not by the result. That’s how good she was training and how much we thought of her coming into the race.”
Scottish Lassie has several obstacles to overcome in addition to her relative inexperience. She will break from the extreme outside post in the now nine-horse field while trying two turns for the first time.
“The post is a little concern but she’s got good gate speed, so hopefully Jose [Ortiz] can get good position and there’s enough speed inside her that she’ll be able to tuck in a little bit around that first turn,” Abreu said. “Is her inexperience a concern? Normally I’d say it would be, except she’s continued to train so forwardly coming out of that last race, which is what I go by, I’d say no.
“As for the two turns, it’s definitely a question mark but the way she won and the way she trains, I’d say the longer the better for her, so again, I don’t feel it will be a problem.”
Immersive is perfect in three starts and a two-time Grade 1 winner, having rallied to a 1 1/4-length decision as a 12-1 outsider in the seven-furlong Spinaway on Aug. 30 at Saratoga and a 1 1/4-length victory over Quickick as the 8-5 favorite in the 1 1/16-mile Alcibiades six weeks later at Keeneland. Immersive is trained by Brad Cox, who won this event in 2019 with British Idiom and who, like Abreu with Scottish Lassie, has thought highly of his filly right from the start.
“She’s been very good all year, love her,” said Cox. “I thought for a while that she’s this type of filly and she hasn’t let us down.”
Immersive was hung wide throughout before taking command in early stretch and edging clear in the Alcibiades in an effort Cox believes might have been even better than it looks on paper.
“She sat a good trip but I think the track definitely favored front-runners that day and she came from off the pace,” Cox noted. “So I think she had to overcome that a little bit. Look, who knows how the track’s going to be here [at Del Mar]. Speed is normally good. She has the ability to sit close to somewhat of an honest pace and finish the job and I think with a good trip, she’s right there.”
With Non Compliant out, Nooni becomes trainer Bob Baffert’s lone entrant in the Juvenile Fillies as well as the only member of the field with a victory over the track, having captured the Grade 3 Sorrento here on Aug. 10. Nooni could be the one to catch after proving clearly second best behind Non Compliant after setting the pace into the stretch of the Oak Leaf in her most recent start on Oct. 5.
Quickick easily defeated both Scottish Lassie and Snowyte, another member of the Juvenile Fillies lineup, when winning her maiden at second asking at Saratoga on Sept. 1 while showing improvement for trainer Tom Amoss with the addition of blinkers. She ran against the bias in the Alcibiades, rallying from last after getting checked briefly following the start to finish a game second behind Immersive. She did so despite racing a bit greenly and never switching off her left lead in the run down the stretch.
A pair of Japanese contenders, Otomena Shacho and American Bikini, will make their U.S. debuts in the Juvenile Fillies. American Bikini is the more fancied of the duo having won a seven-furlong stakes in gate-to-wire fashion in her most recent start for trainer Takashi Saito. Although she’s yet to compete beyond seven-eighths, American Bikini is bred to go longer being a half-sister to Coaching Club American Oaks winner Paris Lights.
Vodka With a Twist, who finished third behind Nooni in the Sorrento, and La Cara, without a start since winning the Grade 3, one-mile Pocahantas at Churchill Downs on Sept. 14, complete the field.
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