A field composed of mostly last-out maiden winners and a sole stakes winner in 4G Racing’s Crown Imperial set the stage for the Oct. 6 Jessamine Stakes (G2T) for 2-year-old fillies at Keeneland.
The Opening Day 1 1/16-mile $350,000 turf contest offers the winner an automatic berth into the starting gate for the Nov. 3 $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T) at Santa Anita Park.
This year’s Jessamine assemblage includes no less than six fillies that have graduated in their latest outing. Among those drawing early favoritism include Tracy Farmer’s Time to Dazzle , an impressive winner over the Woodbine turf course Sept. 17. The Not This Time filly drew off handily to score by three lengths in her debut traveling a mile. She is trained by dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse, who won the Jessamine in 2016 with La Coronel.
There’s certainly no shortage of early speed in Friday’s race. Although a battle for command seems inevitable, the Mike Maker-trained Smooth Waves , breaking from the inside 1 post, could very likely find herself leading the way past the first turn. The English Channel filly, campaigned by Three Diamonds Farm, romped by 9 1/4 lengths in her Sept. 10 maiden victory at Kentucky Downs. She coasted virtually unchallenged on the front end in that start, which is unlikely to happen again due to the presence of Abeyance , Bella Haze , Appellate , and Asternia , all of whom showed early speed in their last trips to the post.
A filly looking to take advantage of a pace meltdown up front is the John Ortiz-trained Crown Imperial. The diminutive daughter of Classic Empire has been the model of consistency in five career starts. After breaking her maiden on the dirt at Horseshoe Indianapolis in May, she proceeded to hit the board in her next four starts, all in stakes company. Following a nose defeat to Oct. 8 Indian Summer Stakes contender Amidst Waves in the Bolton Landing Stakes, Crown Imperial rebounded with a decisive score in the $500,000 Untapable Stakes Sept. 13 at Kentucky Downs. The biggest obstacle for her is the two-turn distance since the late-running filly has never gone beyond 6 1/2 furlongs.
Rigney Racing’s homebred Buchu is another contender looking to close off a quick early tempo. The daughter of Justify put it all together in her last start for a dominating tally Sept. 23 when rallying for a 4 3/4-length win going 1 1/16 miles at Churchill Downs.
What You Need to Know
- Two past winners of the Jessamine have gone on to capture the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf; Rushing Fall in 2017 and Aunt Pearl (IRE) in 2020.
- In two of the past three years the winner of the Jessamine has won the race in gate-to-wire fashion.
Leave feedback about this