HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Lennilu kept her U.S. record unblemished and in the process earned herself a starting berth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf on Oct. 31 at Del Mar by registering a 1 1/2-length victory over The Princess Bro in Saturday’s $75,000 Hollywood Beach at Gulfstream Park.
The top two finishers were the only fillies among the nine juveniles who contested the five-furlong turf stakes.
The Hollywood Beach was the fourth win in five starts for Lennilu, a daughter of Leinster. Lennilu's only setback to date was a third-place finish behind True Love in the Group 2 Queen Mary at Royal Ascot on June 18. True Love confirmed her standing as one of the premier juvenile sprinters in Europe after capturing the Group 1 Cheveley Stakes earlier in the day at Newmarket.
Lennilu was prominent from the outset of the five-furlong Hollywood Beach, attending the pace of 3-2 favorite Monster while under a snug hold by jockey Jonathan Ocasio. Lennilu readily overtook the tiring leader near midstretch, edged well clear, then maintained a safe advantage under steady handling.
The Princess Bro, who won her only previous start in impressive fashion launching her career on the turf, was slowest to begin and then got caught behind horses in some traffic on the turn. She ultimately angled out to the middle of the course leaving the turn before finishing strongest of all at the end.
Monster, runner-up in Saratoga’s Skidmore Stakes in his previous start, finished a tiring third.
Lennilu is trained by Patrick Biancone for owners Amy Dunne, Caitlin Dunne and Brenda Miley. She added the Hollywood Beach to earlier victories in the Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies Turf and the Desert Vixen, over the main track, here just three weeks ago. Lennilu completed the distance over a “good” turf course in 54.97 seconds and paid $5.80.
“She’s a machine,” Biancone said. “The other horse (Monster) is fast. I told (Ocasio) to let him go. I didn’t think she would catch him that easily. She was cruising. In England today, the filly who beat her at Ascot (True Love) won a Group 1. She’s the best 2-year-old in Europe. This will set (Lennilu) up perfectly for Del Mar.”