Aunt Pearl sets stakes record in Jessamine, earns Breeders' Cup bid

Aunt Pearl ran the field off their feet right from the start in Wednesday's Grade 2, $100,000 Jessamine Stakes at Keeneland in a performance that could make her the favorite in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.

The Brad Cox-trainee, with Florent Geroux aboard, broke beautifully and went right to the early lead. She was pressed a bit by Navratilova, while going a steady :46.65 for the opening half mile. 

Geroux noted he did not realize how fast the 3-2 favorite was going early in the race given she was doing it so easily.

"Fast, faster than I thought," Geroux said when asked about the early tempo of the race. "Looking at the fractions I thought I was going much slower than that. She has short legs, but they go fast."

Second-choice Spanish Loveaffair, who was undefeated in her first two starts, sat a good trip in third and angled out in the stretch to finish second, 2-1/2 lengths behind the winner. Chad Brown's Ingrassia closed to be third to round out the chalky trifecta.

A daughter of Lope de Vega, Aunt Pearl went fast early, middle and late while breaking the Jessamine record by over one second in a final time of 1:40.86. She returned $5.00 to win.

The natural early speed and strong kick of Aunt Pearl was reminiscent of another daughter of Lope de Vega, Newspaperofrecord. She won the 2018 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, a feat Aunt Pearl will look to match next month at Keeneland.

Aunt Pearl was a debut winner by five lengths on Sept. 1st at Churchill Downs and was even more impressive against a better field on Wednesday.

"That’s the first time we ever cut her loose, Cox said after the race. "She’s very gifted. She’s got a lot of natural speed – :46 and change, carrying speed two turns like that in the second start of her career – she’s obviously very special. It was a big effort."