BC Juvenile Fillies Turf Probably Next for Harmonize

Riley Mott, assistant to his father, Bill, reported that Larkin Armstrong’s Harmonize was good the morning after she charged late to win the JPMorgan Chase Jessamine (G3) by a neck. The stakes is a “Win and You’re In” race for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) here on Oct. 30.

“You have to think ‘Win and You’re In’,” said Mott, referring to the Scat Daddy filly’s possible next start in the Breeders’ Cup World Championships. “We’ll see how she does the next few days, but so far she’s come out of the race well. It’s obviously the next thought.”

With yesterday’s performance, Harmonize has won her past two races, including the Sept. 3 P.G. Johnson at Saratoga. In three starts, she has earned $166,600.

“She’s always shown she could run, and she’s backed that up,” Mott said about the filly, whose third dam is Ashland (G1) winner Chic Shirine. That means Harmonize is from the family of 2015 Travers (G1) winner Keen Ice; Al Khali, a Grade 2 winner Bill Mott trained; Grade 1 winner Somali Lemonade, winner of the 2011 JPMorgan Chase Jessamine; and Grade 1 winner and Irish highweight Verrazano.

Harmonize is on the list of potential Mott horses for the Breeders’ Cup, joining Tourist and Seek Again, respective third- and fourth-place finishers in the Shadwell Turf Mile (G1) here last Saturday, and Lea, second in the Ricoh Woodbine Mile (G1) on Sept. 13.

On Friday, Mott will send out James A. Bryan Jr.’s Ekati’s Phaeton in the $100,000 Buffalo Trace Franklin County. The filly won the Davona Dale (G2) and Old Hat (G3) on Gulfstream’s main track early this year and has been unplaced in her past three races, including two consecutive graded stakes starts at sprinting distances. Friday’s race will mark her first try on turf since she was sixth in the one-mile Our Dear Peggy a year ago at Gulfstream and is an attempt to try something a bit different to get her back into the winner’s circle.

“She’s coming into it the right way,” Mott said. On Oct. 5 at Keeneland, Ekati’s Phaeton worked a half-mile on the main track in :47.40, the best of 58 times at the distance.

Runner-up Sapphire Kitten will be pre-entered in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, according to trainer Joe Sharp.

A homebred daughter of Kitten’s Joy owned by Ken and Sarah Ramsey, Sapphire Kitten would give Sharp his first Breeders’ Cup starter.

“I haven’t had time to think about that yet,” Sharp said Thursday morning. “We are excited about her. She is a nice filly.”

Wednesday’s race marked the stakes debut for Sapphire Kitten, who won going six furlongs at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 16.

“Her first race at Kentucky Downs impressed us a lot and she had trained well after that,” Sharp said. “It was like the light bulb went off. We were pretty optimistic (yesterday).”

Sapphire Kitten dueled with the winner through the stretch and finished 4½ lengths clear of third-place finisher Outsider Art.

“We didn’t question the distance with her pedigree being a Kitten’s Joy and the two turns is better,” Sharp said. “The winner was legit. We are proud to have given her a run for the money.”

Sharp said Sapphire Kitten would have one work on the grass for the Breeders’ Cup race that is Oct. 30.

“I didn’t think we would be in this spot two months ago,” Sharp said. “We let her come to hand and didn’t ask her to do more than she was ready for. We have a fresh horse.”

The Ramseys have won three Breeders’ Cup races with one coming in the Juvenile Fillies Turf with Stephanie’s Kitten in 2011.

Source: Keeneland Association