The Best Two-Year-Old Filly Is...
Fill in the blank:
The best two-year-old filly in America is ______.
Lady Eli capped a solid juvenile campaign with an authoritative win in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. All three of her wins have come on turf and she has to be in the mix for champion two year old filly because she also has another graded stakes win (Miss Grillo Stakes). The only question going forward for her is will trainer Chad Brown keep her on the turf or will he give a shot on the main track?
The first horse that might come to mind is Take Charge Brandi, upset winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. Her front running win has clearly created chaos in what could have been a straightforward division had one of the previous Grade 1 winners won the Juvenile Fillies. Without a doubt, however her win was the most beneficiary of the main track speed bias at Santa Anita.
Prior to the Juvenile Fillies she had raced five times. She won her debut at Churchill Downs and followed that up with a second in the Schuylerville Stakes at Saratoga. After that everything went downhill. She finished fifth in the Adirondack Stakes at Saratoga and Pocahontas Stakes at Churchill Downs. In her final prep for the Breeders' Cup she finished eighth in the Alciabiades Stakes at Keeneland. Chances are if she were trained by anyone other than D. Wayne Lukas she would have been sitting in her stall rather than in the starting gate for the Juvenile Fillies.
Take Charge Brandi paid $125.40 to win in the Juvenile Fillies as the longest shot in the field and with her bias-aided win, I don't think anyone believes she will be a force in the three year old filly division next year.
Top Decile finished second in the aforementioned Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. She made up a ton of ground in the stretch and on a fair track likely would have blown by Take Charge Brandi and clinched the two year old filly championship. She is lightly raced having only two starts prior to the Breeders' Cup and has much more upside than Take Charge Brandi. She has a maiden win and two placings in Grade 1 stakes (Juvenile Fillies and Alcibiades). I wouldn't argue with anyone choosing her as the best two year old filly in America.
Peace and War missed the Breeders' Cup but based on her deep closing style that probably was a blessing. Prior to coming to America she was 1/3 in England. In her lone start stateside she beat Top Decile in the Alcibiades at Keeneland. In that race she was more than a dozen lengths back after the first half, which was run in a quick 45.60 seconds. Her win was definitely aided by the pace collapse as the top four finishers were all more than a dozen lengths behind after the first half mile. She also has a pedigree that would project her to be best on synthetic/turf although she has clearly proven she can handle dirt.
Jacaranda didn't run in the Breeders' Cup and to the best of my knowledge was never considered for it. She did run on Breeders' Cup weekend but it was on the opposite coast at Aqueduct the day after the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. Jacaranda debuted at Belmont Park in late September. In that race she broke slowly, rushed into contention, had traffic trouble for most of the race but overcame it all to win easily. She showed immense talent for such an immature horse but it wasn't unexpected because she is a half sister to Grade 1 Florida Derby winner Constitution.
In the Tempted Jacaranda was ignored in the betting as all the money went to the Todd Pletcher trained Enchantress, who had won her debut in dazzling fashion. Jacaranda projected to sit off the pace but she would have none of that and went straight to the lead in route to a 3 1/2 length victory.