Breeders’ Cup: Super Corredora wires the Juvenile Fillies
Del Mar, Calif.
Super Corredora lived up to her name in Friday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, proving that her authoritative maiden victory 20 days ago was no fluke by prevailing by three-quarters of a length leading from gate to wire in the 1 1/16-mile race at Del Mar.
The filly, whose name is a bilingual mashup that translates to Super Runner, gave trainer John Sadler his fourth Breeders’ Cup win and jockey Héctor Berrios his first. She also may have earned come-from-behind divisional honors by besting graded-stakes winners Iron Orchard, Bottle of Rouge, Tommy Jo and Explora. Time will tell.
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Sadler, 69, was emotional at the post-race news conference, his eyes glistening as he took questions from the media.
“There was a time when they’d say, ‘He’s the best trainer that hasn’t won a Breeders’ Cup,’ ” Sadler said. “They stopped asking that after (2018 Classic winner) Accelerate. So we’ve won quite a few of them now. So I’m very pleased with that.
“And as you’re an older trainer, which I am at this point, these are the races you want to win.”
Super Corredora was hard-ridden out of the gate by Berrios to grab a one-length lead from Bob Baffert-trained, 3-2 favorite Explora approaching the first turn.
She got into a good rhythm up the backstretch through fractions of 22.42 and 45.63 seconds and maintained her advantage as La Wally moved up into second and Explora slid back to third on the rail.
As La Wally began to tire exiting the turn, jockey Juan Hernández switched Explora outside and attempted to engage the leader as the timer clicked off 1:10.15 for six furlongs.
But La Corredora was game on the lead and wouldn’t let her rival go by. With Berrios using the crop both left- and right-handed, she held Explora safe and sailed past the wire at 1:43.71. Percy’s Bar, who bounced off the rail in the upper stretch, regrouped to finish third, three lengths behind Explora.
Sadler said he instructed Berrios to go to the front, believing that the daughter of Gun Runner was coming into her own following her 8 1/4-length win at a mile in a maiden special weight race on Oct. 11 at Santa Anita.
“We had high expectations,” Sadler said, “and the last race, you know, it wasn’t just that she broke her maiden. She was aggressive. ... She could have won by 15.
“We took a little chance and wheeled her back in three weeks, and it worked out.”
Berrios, 38, was ecstatic after collecting his first Breeders’ Cup win.
“For me this moment is very, very special,” he said. “My whole family is here, my kids, my children. (I’m) very excited. It’s amazing. Thank you, Lord.”
The victory reunited Sadler with Super Corredora co-owner West Point Thoroughbreds. They also owned a piece of his greatest horse Flightline, whose 6-for-6 career culminated with a win in the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Classic and a horse-of-the-year title.
Terry Finley, founder and president of West Point, said he was surprised when Sadler called him after Super Corredora’s maiden win and said, “I’d like to take a look at the Breeders’ Cup.”
“I'm a huge fan of John Sadler,” said Finley, whose partners in the filly are Spartan Equine Racing, Robert Gardiner and Michael Olszewski. “I wasn’t around him all week, but the times I was around, the last day I could feel his confidence. I would not say it was at the level of a Flightline confidence, but it was pretty darned good.”
Good enough, it turned out, to add $1,040,000 to the earnings of the filly who West Point bought for $400,000 at last year’s Keeneland September yearling sale.
Only three favorites, Songbird in 2015, Echo Zulu in 2021 and Immersive last year, won the Juvenile Fillies between 2012 and 2024.
Open Mind in 1988-89 and Silverbulletday in 1998-99 are the only two horses who won both the Juvenile Fillies and the Kentucky Oaks (G1). Fran’s Valentine would have been the first had she not been disqualified for a foul in her Breeders’ Cup victory nearly six months before she won the Oaks.