Juvenile Fillies Turf Looms Serious Scramble

The 2013 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (gr. IT) is one you just want to sit back and enjoy.

Never mind trying to get a handle on the numerous top-class American-based stakes fillies; good luck just trying to separate the four talented fillies from Europe that include two group I winners and one group II winner.

And after the French-trained Flotilla’s impressive score in last year’s edition, it would not be wise to ignore the likes of Vorda, winner of the Connolly Red Mills Cheveley Park Stakes (Eng-I) and Prix Robert Papin (Fra-I) and second in the group I Darley Prix Morny, the last two against the colts; Chriselliam, upset winner of the Shadwell Fillies Mile (Eng-I); and Al Thakhira, undefeated winner of the Vision.ae Rockfel Stakes (Eng-II) at Newmarket.

The European fillies drew well in the field 14, with Vorda breaking from post 6, Chriselliam from post 8, and Al Thakhira from post 2.

In all, 17 fillies were pre-entered for the one-mile race, with Rosalind and Ria Antonia heading to the Juvenile Fillies (gr. I), and the Irish-trained Flying Jib remaining home.

On the American front, Chad Brown holds a large and powerful hand, with four fillies entered, including stakes winners Testa Rossi, winner of the Miss Grillo Stakes (gr. IIIT) in her U.S. debut and riding a four-race winning streak; Kitten Kaboodle, who ran off with the JP Morgan Chase Jessamine Stakes (gr. IIIT) as a maiden; and Granny Mc's Kitten, winner of the listed P.G. Johnson Stakes. Ready to Act looked like she had the Natalma Stakes (gr. IIT) at Woodbine in the bag after opening a two-length lead at the eighth pole, but veered in and lost her rider.

Brown's foursome are scattered throughout the starting gate, starting with Kitten Kaboodle and Granny Mc's Kitten side by side in posts 4 and 5, respectively, Ready to Act in post 11, and Testa Rossi drawing post 12.

But the filly who likely will receive the most attention is the undefeated Canadian-based My Conquestadory, who was also been pre-entered in the Juvenile Fillies but chose to return to the grass. Unfortunately for the daughter of Artie Schiller  , she drew the far outside in post 14, and her jockey, Eurico De Silva, will have his work cut out for him getting a good position going into the first turn.

My Conquestadory, trained by Mark Casse, made an auspicious career debut by running against the boys in the grade II Summer Stakes on grass at Woodbine and giving them quite a thrashing, drawing off to a 3 1/4-length victory at the Juvenile Fillies Turf distance of a mile. She was then sent to Keeneland for the grade I Darley Alcibiades Stakes on Polytrack and turned in a huge run from 11th to win going away by 1 3/4 lengths under Da Silva.

And then there is the house horse, Clenor, a former Irish-trained filly who is undefeated in three starts since being sent to the United States, including come-from-behind victories at Del Mar and Santa Anita. Doug O’Neill trains the daughter of Oratorio and was pleased with the filly's post position.

"The 10 post is good," O'Neill said. "She has done nothing wrong and she has a great mind. But that French filly Vorda looks like she could be something special."