OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Kelsey Danner still doesn’t understand why Ground Support was 100-1 when she ran him in a maiden race at Kentucky Downs. Now, nobody else understands it either.
Confirming that her debut victory on Aug. 30 at Kentucky Downs was no fluke, Ground Support went gate to wire under Adam Beschizza to win Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Miss Grillo Stakes at Aqueduct. The two-length victory over race favorite Deep Learning earned Ground Support a fees-paid berth into the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar on Oct. 31.
“I thought she was a two-turn horse the whole time,” Danner told NYRA's publicity department. “Obviously, at Kentucky Downs, it’s a one-turn mile, but I didn’t think distance was an issue. She was breezing really nice, and I did not think she was a five-and-a-half [furlong] type horse, so I was waiting to go longer. Kentucky Downs is something the owner and I target, and she was ready to run probably five weeks before Kentucky Downs, but I decided to wait for that.”
In the Miss Grillo, Ground Support and Beschizza weren’t waiting for anybody. Seeing that nobody was intent on being in front, Beschizza put Ground Support on the lead and she cruised around there through fractions of 23.17 seconds for the quarter, 48.65 for the half-mile, and 1:13.56 for six furlongs, covering the 1 1/16 miles in a final time 1:43.32. Sent off at 12-1 in this field of 11, Ground Support returned $26.86 and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 78.
Ground Support is a daughter of Army Mule owned by the NBS Stable of Art Neuhedel, John Ballantyne and Daryl Shaw.
Beschizza said it wasn’t necessarily his plan to put Ground Support on the lead.
“There wasn’t that much speed. There was maybe one or other that had been running short distances that could have shown a little [speed], but I guess everybody moving forward with distance from their first couple of runs, everybody was trying to see out the trip. We ended up there by default.”
Deep Learning, an impressive debut winner who finished fifth in the Grade 1 Natalma, came with a decent late run to get second by a half-length over Quiet Street. Chad Brown, who felt his filly was compromised by a lack of pace in the Miss Grilly, said he may run Deep Learning back in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, a race he has won six times.
“Maybe I’ll take a shot in the Breeders’ Cup,” Brown said. “Cutting back to a mile, there could be more pace in there.”
Quiet Street, who won the Untapable Stakes at Kentucky Downs, is also a likely candidate for the Juvenile Fillies Turf.
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