The Breeders' Cup buzz builds for debut winner Donna Veloce

Her name translates to “Fast Woman” from Italian, and Donna Veloce has been just that at every asking ahead of Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

A $450,000 yearling, she sold to owner Kaleem Shah for $800,000 as a 2-year-old in training having breezed the co-fastest time before walking into the sales ring.

On debut, the daughter of Uncle Mo, a Simon Callaghan trainee, demolished a maiden special weight field on Sept. 28 at Santa Anita Park, winning by 9 1/4 lengths.

And on Friday, Donna Veloce fired the five-furlong bullet a week before the Juvenile Fillies, going the distance under jockey Flavien Prat in 1:00.60 at Santa Anita.

In an interview with TVG, Callaghan described the drill as “a solid work without overdoing it.”

“She’s pretty much what you want her to be,” Callaghan said. “She’s got a really good mind, so you can go slow. We just wanted her to get a little bit out of it seven days out.”

On more than one occasion during TVG’s works show, host Todd Schrupp tabbed Donna Veloce as the Juvenile Fillies favorite — that off one race, and knowing the field figures to include four Grade 1 winners. Bast, who’s trained by Bob Baffert, has twice won at the top level already, taking the Del Mar Debutante (G1) and Chandelier (G1).

Donna Veloce’s lone start, by the way, came at 6 1/2 furlongs and around one turn. She will be asked to go 1 1/16 miles in her two-turn debut against the best (so far) of her generation.

Analyst Simon Bray found no indication Donna Veloce may come up short.

“By no means at all is she too aggressive here,” he said as the filly worked solo on Friday. “…I don’t see anything wrong with this work at all. She’s absolutely covering the ground beautifully. She made her lead changes perfectly.”

In addition to Bast, Donna Veloce’s more experienced Breeders’ Cup rivals include the Frizette (G1) winner Wicked Whisper, Alcibiades (G1) heroine British Idiom and Perfect Alibi, who won the Spinaway (G1) over the summer at Saratoga.

“We felt we had her pretty ready for her first race,” Callaghan said. “She came out of a 2-year-olds in training sale, so she’s seen a lot — a very good-minded filly, and everything you throw at her she handles well.

A Breeders’ Cup victory may be in her blood. Out of the Montjeu mare Coin Broker, her second dam, Cash Run, won the 1999 Juvenile Fillies.

And so the buzz builds.

“We know it’s certainly a tough task,” Callaghan said, “and I don’t think many have done it. We know what we’re up against, but we have a really nice filly.”