Immersive stalks, pounces, wins Alcibiades & Breeders’ Cup trip

Lexington, Ky.

If Del Mar is as speed favoring next month for the Breeders’ Cup as Keeneland was Friday, that will be just fine for trainer Brad Cox.

“You would think it would be somewhat similar to what we had here today,” Cox said after undefeated Immersive stalked the early pace before taking the lead inside the last quarter-mile of her 1 1/4-length triumph in the Grade 1, $600,000 Alcibiades Stakes. “Obviously this filly was able to set close to some hot fractions.”

Click here for Keeneland entries and results.

The Alcibiades was a win-and-you’re-in qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in four weeks at Del Mar. Like Friday’s race, it will be run at 1 1/16 miles.

Cox nearly swept the three graded stakes Friday. Four-year-old gelding Federal Judge ran away to a 5 1/2-length score in the $350,000 Phoenix (G2) sprint. Destino d’Oro lost by the shortest of heads and wound up third in a three-way photo in the $350,000 Jessamine (G2), which got the winner May Day Ready a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.

Immersive (8-5), though, was the unquestioned star of the opening-day show Friday. The Godolphin homebred by Nyquist came in with previous wins at Saratoga in her six-furlong debut and then a muddy renewal of the Spinaway (G1). In each case she carried odds of at least 10-1. Now 3-for-3, that will not happen again.

“I have no clue,” Cox said when he was asked how Immersive went off at 12-1 in the Spinaway. “I’m embarrassed to say I was on a plane leaving Monmouth, and I didn’t bet a dollar on her.”

Rich City Girl (18-1), who would fade to sixth, established the early pace in the two-turn race on a perfectly sunny, 79-degree afternoon. Liam in the Dust (9-2), who finished last, was within a half-length to a length until the far turn.

With Manny Franco riding her for the third time, Immersive never was more than two lengths back at any call, consistent with the style of her first two races.

“Based off how the track was playing, we thought if she could use some of her speed to get a good position like Manny was able to do, it would put her in a good position turning for home, and it did,” Cox said.

By then Immersive had seized the advantage she would extend down the short stretch to the first finish line, successfully chasing early fractions of 23.01, 46.89 and 1:11.26 before establishing her own 1:37.50 through a mile.

“She’s a grinder, and today she broke running,” Franco said. “That was the plan. To break running and go forward. She was traveling so comfortable. I was pleased with what I had under me. It was a matter of time. At the quarter pole I asked her for more, and she took a little bit to get going, but she got it done.”

Maiden winner Quickick (7-2), who was last early in the field of seven, made a late bid in the homestretch on her wrong lead, but Immersive kept edging away to finish with a time of 1:44.64.

“The track maybe wasn’t playing to her style,” Quickick’s trainer Tom Amoss said. “She came from off the pace and from behind horses and had to be wide. But I really thought she gave who I think is the best 2-year-old filly in the country quite a challenge at the end there.”

Quickick finished second, two lengths ahead of third-place closer Quietside (5-2) followed in order by Continuity (23-1), Sherbini (10-1), Rich City Girl and Liam in the Dust.

Immersive’s win was the first for Godolphin in a race that its Darley stallion operation sponsors. It was not, however, Cox’s first win in the Alcibiades. Michael Dubb and his partners were in the winner’s circle with British Idiom in 2019, and Juju’s Map scored for the Albaugh family at the expense of her Godolphin stablemate Matareya, who finished in a dead-heat for fifth in 2021.

“I’ve heard that a couple different times,” Cox said of breaking the Godolphin schneid. “I think we heard it the year Juju’s Map won the race. We thought Matareya could be the first one to break through for them, and it wasn’t to be.”

There was an omen that Cox spotted just before Friday’s race began.

“When they were loading the horses, all the assistant starters were wearing Darley jackets,” he said. “I said I don’t know if that’s good luck or bad luck. It was good luck today.”

The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile beckons for both Immersive and Quickick. Trainer John Ortiz was not committing third-place Quietside just yet.

“We’ll let her decide how she comes out of this race,” Ortiz said, “and we’ll figure it out.”

As for Immersive, she added $362,700 to her bankroll to run her earnings to $582,700. Now she will try to follow British Idiom’s lead from five years ago, when she accomplished the Alcibiades-Breeders’ Cup double.

“I sure hope so,” Cox said. “This is a very talented filly. She’s been good from day 1. She shows up every week when we lead her out there to breeze. I think she’s a special talent.”