Lady Ivanka training to go longer in Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies

Lady Ivanka breezed Sunday at Aqueduct in preparation for the $2 million 14 Hands Winery Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies on November 4 at Del Mar. According to DRF clockers, Lady Ivanka went five furlongs in 1:01.06 with the final quarter-mile in 23.93 seconds.

Trainer Rudy Rodriguez, who was aboard the Tiz Wonderful filly for the work, said he was impressed and everything seems on track for a departure to California on Thursday.

"So far, everything looks good. I'll talk to the bosses today and we'll find out for sure what we're doing. We're planning to ship out on October 26," Rodriguez said. "She's doing everything we ask her. We just have to keep her happy and healthy and go from there."

Lady Ivanka has started her career 2-for-2, winning her debut on August 9 at Saratoga before capturing the Grade 1 Spinaway at seven furlongs on September 2. Rodriguez said he is curious to see how she responds to stretching out to the Juvenile Fillies distance of 1 1/16 miles.

"We have to see how she handles it over there, it's a different surface and different weather," Rodriguez said. "It's not an easy decision to make to go. It'll be a tough race. They're babies and some of them have [run] long already, but that's the question we have to answer. It's tough because she hasn't gone the distance yet. She looks like she can handle it and go the distance, but she has to go and do it."

Source: NYRA Communications