Scottish Lassie proved she has the potential to become a special horse with a scintillating nine-length maiden-breaking victory in the Frizette Stakes (G1) at Aqueduct Racetrack. However, no matter what the rest of her career entails, she will always be among the most special horses trainer Jorge Abreu ever trained.
“She’s very special in a lot of ways,” Abreu said. “I bought the filly, I train the filly, and she gave me my first grade 1 win. Now, she’s got me here.”
“Here” is the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), to be held at Del Mar Nov. 1, a race in which Abreu was narrowly defeated last year with long shot Jody’s Pride .
Scottish Lassie was an $85,000 purchase from the Ocala Breeders’ March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training by Parkland Thoroughbreds, who co-owns the daughter of McKinzie with Abreu, Sportsmen Stable, Photos Finish, and Corms Racing Stable. She has now earned $232,000 in just two starts.
Third on debut at Saratoga Race Course behind Juvenile Fillies rivals Quickick and Snowyte , she seemingly took a lot from the experience while blitzing her rivals, including Snowyte, in the Frizette. The victory was not just a first grade 1 win for Abreu, but his first graded stakes.
The Dominican-born trainer started his training career in 2016 after spending nine years as an assistant for Chad Brown. During that time, which were the first nine years of Brown’s career, they won seven Breeders’ Cup races together.
“We had a good run, I learned a lot there,” Abreu said. “I decided to go on my own and so far it’s been working out well.”
Knowing a good horse when he sees one, it didn’t take long for Abreu to return to the World Championships. In 2018 he sent his first starter to the post, with Stellar Agent finishing third behind Brown’s Newspaperofrecord in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T).
Now, Abreu hopes to reverse those defeats and add his own name to Breeders’ Cup history.
“I have no words to explain (how I would feel), but I’d be thrilled,” Abreu said. “Hopefully this is the one.”
Gate Schooling for O’Brien’s Squad
It is a familiar sight for American racegoers: a European horse breaking slowly in its United States debut and forced to play catchup.
Sometimes in a turf route, it is of little consequence, with the horse’s quickening ability and proficiency on grass enough to offset the troubled beginning. But that does not apply when City of Troy races 1 1/4 miles on dirt in the Nov. 2 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) at Del Mar. Drawn in post 3 under Ryan Moore, an alert start is seen as instrumental to his success in a first attempt on dirt.
“So if he breaks (his post) is a very good position,” acknowledged trainer Aidan O’Brien, an 18-time Breeders’ Cup winner in search of his first Classic victory. “If he doesn’t break, it’s going to be very bad position. So we’re going to learn very quickly.”
Usually a horse who races on or near the pace, he could be disadvantaged if he starts slowly as his rivals could cut in front of him, leading to potentially discouraging dirt kickback hitting him in the face.
O’Brien, well aware of the importance of the break, has given City of Troy, as well as his other Breeders’ Cup entrants, gate schooling abroad at his Irish base at Ballydoyle, and those preparations continued Oct. 30 when he took his entire equine squad to the starting gate at Del Mar.
City of Troy heads the Ballydoyle string for a trip to the starting gate at Del Mar
The visit was nothing unusual, and typical for horses preparing for an important race. They loaded to gain familiarity with their surroundings, and the starter and assistant starters gained an opportunity to learn of their tendencies.
“The American gates look bigger, but when you get inside them, they’re not bigger,” O’Brien said, describing why it is common for horses to break poorly. “The sides come closer than our gates, too. Horses do go into it when they think they’re bigger. And when they go in, they feel a little bit more claustrophobic. … To be sharp and quick, the feel has to be closer; the reaction has to be quicker.
“In our part of the world, the gates are wider, that there’s nothing touching off them, and everything is that fraction slower.”
Due to the dimensions used in American racing, “They feel every vibration when they go in there, so they just come alive,” he said.
City of Troy—the top-rated turf horse in the world and a son of Justify , a Triple Crown winner on dirt—would appear to be a high-energy horse as is. He showed signs of sweat Oct. 29 in his first day of training at Del Mar under relatively cool conditions for Southern California. He seemed drier when returning from training to his barn Wednesday.
“It is better to sweat than not sweat,” O’Brien said. “So if you’re getting ready for a big fight or a big match or whatever and that you need to warm up, your blood has to get ready to boil because he’s going out there and he’s not going to be cold or (he’ll be) behind a bit behind in reaction.”
Moore, who rides first call for O’Brien and the trainer’s Coolmore-affiliated owners, knows City of Troy well, having been aboard him for all seven of the colt’s starts, six of which have resulted in victories, four in group 1s. He is the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the Classic ahead of 3-1 Fierceness , 6-1 Forever Young , and 8-1 Next .
“I don’t know what my expectations are. I know he’s a very good horse. I know he’s got beautiful action. I know he’s got the ability to be very competitive,” Moore said outside the barn where the O’Brien horses are stabled at Del Mar. “We don’t know how we handle conditions at all—how we’ll handle the surface—but we prepare them the best we can.
“Obviously, people are saying, you know, there’s not a top horse (in the Classic to face him), but I think there’s a lot of very good horses in there. We respect all of them.”
SEEING PURPLE
Jockey Yutaka Take is a legend in Japan.
He has 4,545 career wins since debuting in 1987. The son of legendary rider Kunihiko Take, who was known as the “Wizard of the Turf,” the younger Take holds multiple all-time records in Japan and has been named the Japan Racing Association’s Grand Prize Jockey nine times. Take led the JRA in wins 18 times while in the irons for such horses as two-time Japan Horse of the Year Kitasan Black , Do Deuce, and Deep Impact, who also was a two-time Japan Horse of the Year.
This weekend, Take is going to try to achieve a lifelong dream: winning a Breeders’ Cup race.
Yutaka Take, riding Do Deuce to victory in the Tenno Sho (Autumn), wears purple socks in homage to his Breeders’ Cup aspirations
In his home country, Take has significant support from racing fans because of his status as a jockey but also fans want to see him accomplish this major milestone. Being at Del Mar where he will ride two Japan-based Kentucky-breds: Shin Believe in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) and Awesome Result in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1).
Take expresses his World Championship aspirations by wearing purple socks when he races.
With two chances this weekend, Take said it would mean “everything” to come away victorious.
“This is the best racing, in my opinion, of the year, because everyone’s here from all over, so it has that international flavor,” he said through an interpreter. “These are the races you want to compete. So we’re thankful to be here, but we’re not only here to be here. We hopefully can be here and make a presence.”
GETTING FIT
After winning the Delaware Handicap (G2), Honor D Lady had a more turbulent go of things last time out in the Spinster Stakes (G1) at Keeneland.
Exhibiting more than her usual energy in the paddock, she then moved out of order during the post parade.
Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said Honor D Lady, one of his two Breeders’ Cup Distaff runners, is usually “rambunctious” in the paddock but she was more so coming off a three-month layoff due to a respiratory infection.
“We didn’t have her fit enough,” Joseph said. “We knew that going in, but we needed to get a race (before the Breeders’ Cup). We wanted to run better than that, but realistically, we knew we weren’t at our best. I think that kind of took a toll on her.”
Joseph said he has been working with her on schooling to get her better prepared for Saturday’s race.
“(She’s) schooled there a lot, she’s going to go to school again. She’s been over there once already (Wednesday). It’s different to race day, but hopefully she’ll conserve some of her energy. She’s fitter this time, and I think when they know they’re fitter, they relax a bit better.”
Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. with Honor D Lady after winning the 2023 Honey Ryder Stakes at Gulfstream Park
As for the race itself, Joseph said on paper, Honor D Lady shouldn’t win the race with an opponent of the class of Thorpedo Anna involved.
“I don’t think they can do anything to beat Thorpedo Anna,” the trainer said prior to his other runner Batucada being scratched from the race. “Thorpedo Anna would have to not fire. Our best is not good enough on paper. That’s pretty realistic if you analyze it from that point. But it’s a horse race. Horses don’t always fire the best.”
Referring to Honor D Lady potentially conserving her energy, Joseph said that would be a key for the 4-year-old Honor Code filly to snatch victory away from the favored Thorpedo Anna.
“If she does, she can upset Thorpedo Anna,” he said. “If she ran her best and Thorpedo Anna regressed a little bit, she could win the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.”
Watch Saffie Joseph Jr. talk about the Breeders’ Cup Distaff
Also scratched Wednesday from the Distaff was Miss New York , and from the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T) Tenacious Leader and Minaret Station . Two also-eligibles for the Juvenile Turf, Sabertooth and Kale’s Angel , also scratched but will remain in the $200,000 Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes on the Friday undercard.
Watch Sierra Leone, Fierceness, City of Troy and others train at Del Mar
