Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, a four-time winner of the Frizette Stakes (G1), pursues a fifth when he runs Repole Stable’s Life Talk in the $400,000 race at Aqueduct Racetrack Oct. 7. She is part of a six-horse lineup of lightly-raced 2-year-old fillies, all of whom come off last-out wins.
A one-turn race at a mile, the Frizette is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series: Win and You’re In, providing an automatic paid berth into the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) Nov. 3 at Santa Anita Park.
In addition to providing a berth into the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, the Frizette is the first New York prep race on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks, offering its top-five finishers qualifying points on a 10-5-3-2-1 scale toward the Kentucky Oaks (G1) at Churchill Downs next spring.
Pletcher has long used the Frizette as a steppingstone for his 2-year-old fillies to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, though none of his four Frizette winners—Adieu (2005), Devil May Care (2009), Dreaming of Julia (2012), and Chocolate Gelato (2022)—could fare better than third in the Breeders’ Cup. The Juvenile Fillies is one of the few Breeders’ Cup races Pletcher has not won. Pletcher has 14 victories in various Breeders’ Cup races.
Life Talk is already a winner at the mile distance, having drawn away for a 6 1/2-length score Aug. 31 at Saratoga Race Course in her second start under Irad Ortiz Jr. The daughter of Gun Runner had been a closing second in a debut over 6 1/2 furlongs.
LIFE TALK, a 2YO by @Three_Chimneys stallion Gun Runner breaks her maiden under @iradortiz in Race 2 for trainer @PletcherRacing! #Saratoga pic.twitter.com/3pFtNcgL9d
— NYRA (🌳) (@TheNYRA) August 31, 2023
“She stepped up second time and improved a lot stretching out. We’ll give it a try,” said Pletcher. “She’s one that touted herself early on. I think ultimately, the further the better.”
A $335,000 purchase at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Life Talk is out of the winning Bernardini mare Touchy Feely .
Among Life Talk’s five opponents is George Krikorian’s second-generation Kentucky homebred Just F Y I , a bay daughter of 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify , who won on debut at Saratoga Aug. 26. She rallied from 2 1/2 lengths off the pace under Junior Alvarado to post the head victory.
“We thought she was a nice filly,” Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said. “Her breezes have been very good and useful. It’s not much experience for any horse to only have one race and jump into a grade 1. I think it’s a lot to ask, but you don’t have many options.”
Just F Y I is out of the stakes-placed Street Cry mare Star Act .
Others in The Field
- Stonestreet Stables Emery , a 5 1/4-length maiden winner in the mud at Saratoga, in which she zipped six furlongs in 1:09.80, was rerouted by trainer Brad Cox from the Oct. 6 Alcibiades (G1) at Keeneland to the Frizette.
- Also stretching out from six furlongs is Three Racing’s Irish Maxima , who is 2-for-2 in the Mid-Atlantic for trainer John Servis.
- Valter Ramos’ Princess Indy , 2-for-3, is the lone existing stakes winner in the lineup after taking the Aug. 20 Sorority Stakes at a mile last out at Monmouth Park for trainer Claudio Gonzalez.
- Godolphin’s Kentucky homebred Central Avenue , a debut winner at Colonial Downs for trainer Michael Stidham, is a well-bred daughter of Street Sense out of the multiple graded stakes-placed A.P. Indy mare Centring .
Entries: Frizette S. (G1)
Belmont at the Big A, Saturday, October 07, 2023, Race 5
- Grade I
- 1m
- Dirt
- $400,000
- 2 yo Fillies
- 2:12 PM (local)
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