By Alan Carasso
Having sired five Northern Hemisphere Grade I/Group 1 winners since June, Coolmore America's outstanding second-crop stallion Justify registered a 'Future Stars Friday' double when Wise Racing LLC's Hard to Justify stuck on grimly to deny game Irish raider Porta Fortuna (Ire) (Caravaggio) in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.
The $190,000 Keeneland September yearling made it a half-dozen elite-level scorers for the 2018 Triple Crown winner, whose daughter Just F Y I locked up an Eclipse Award with her hard-fought success in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies not 45 minutes earlier.
Winner of Aqueduct's Oct. 4 GII Miss Grillo S. to earn her way into this event, the bay filly jumped nicely and was prominent through the opening stages, and when Austere (Mendelssohn) was dragged back off the pace by Tyler Gaffalione to sit a rail-skimming trip, Flavien Prat allowed Hard to Justify to creep forward to sit just off the flank of the pacesetting and previously unbeaten Dreamfyre (Flameaway) to the backstretch.
Racing in tandem into and around the second bend, Dreamfyre had Hard to Justify breathing down her neck, while She Looks Pretty (Karakontie {Jpn}), the 7-2 post-time favorite who raced four deep the trip, and Porta Fortuna nearer the inside remained right in the thick of things. Dreamfyre dropped away in the final furlong, and Hard to Justify looked to be there for the taking, but she kept finding up front and was home narrowly best as Porta Fortuna tried her late at the fence. She Looks Pretty was an extremely unlucky third.
Hard to Justify is a remarkable sixth Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner for trainer Chad Brown and comes at Santa Anita, where he won his very first Breeders' Cup race some 15 years ago in the same event with Maram (Sahm). It was a 17th Breeders' Cup victory overall for Brown and fifth for Prat, who was aboard Flightline (Tapit) in that history-making Classic last fall.
“I looked at the race form and spoke to Flavien and just said that I think she's one of the only three fillies, barring some European form that I can't see, from the American horses who is good enough to win,” said Brown. “I don't mind using some fuel early to clear and she did that and hit a :47 and change half. There was mild concern at the three-eighths marker when they started to stack up outside of her. I thought maybe that post would do her in, but I knew she had some fight in her. It's just a matter of when he wanted to use that last bit of energy that she would have. Sure enough, she had plenty; more than I thought.”
Pedigree Notes:
Spaniard Leopoldo Fernandez Pujals's Yeguada Centurion has quickly become a breeder of significance. In relatively quick order, Yeguada Centurion has bred–and raced–the likes of this year's dual French Classic- and G1 Prix de l'Opera-winning 3-year-old filly Blue Rose Cen (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}) and recent G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. hero Big Rock (Fr) (Rock of Gibraltar {Ire}) and is also the breeder of GSW and G1 Prix Morny runner-up Ramatuelle (Justify).
Yeguada Centurion acquired Grade III-placed Instant Reflex for $300,000 in foal to Arrogate at the 2019 Keeneland November sale. The colt the mare was carrying at the time was retained by Yeguada Centurion after failing to find a new home at the 2021 Arqana August sale and won his maiden by 9 1/2 lengths at first asking at Hipodromo de la Zarzuela in Madrid last December before finishing unplaced behind Big Rock over the Chantilly all-weather this past March.
Instant Reflex, a half-sister to GSP Before You Know (Hard Spun)–the dam of recent Rags to Riches S. runner-up Gin Gin (Hightail)–and MGSP Tarantino (Pioneerof the Nile), is also the dam of a yearling colt by Uncle Mo.
Hard to Justify wins the $1 Million #BreedersCup Juvenile Fillies Turf on #FutureStarsFriday at @santaanitapark! Cheers to all of the connections! pic.twitter.com/f91gXEyJQz
— Breeders' Cup (@BreedersCup) November 3, 2023
Friday, Santa Anita
BREEDERS' CUP JUVENILE FILLIES TURF-GI, $920,000, Santa Anita, 11-3, 2yo, f, 1mT, 1:34.42, fm.
1–HARD TO JUSTIFY, 122, f, 2, by Justify
1st Dam: Instant Reflex (GSP), by Quality Road
2nd Dam: Without Delay, by Seeking the Gold
3rd Dam: Slow Down, by Seattle Slew
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($190,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). O-Wise Racing LLC; B-Yeguada Centurion S.L. (KY); T-Chad C. Brown; J-Flavien Prat. $520,000. Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0, $687,750. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Porta Fortuna (Ire), 122, f, 2, by Caravaggio
1st Dam: Too Precious (Ire), by Holy Roman Emperor (Ire)
2nd Dam: Delicate Charm (Ire), by High Chaparral (Ire)
3rd Dam: Kantikoy (GB), by Alzao
O-Medallion Racing, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and Barry Fowler; B-Whisperview Trading Ltd (Ire); T-Donnacha O'Brien. $170,000.
3–She Feels Pretty, 122, f, 2, by Karakontie (Jpn)
1st Dam: Summer Sweet, by More Than Ready
2nd Dam: Summer Solstice (Ire), by Caerleon
3rd Dam: Summer Sonnet (GB), by Baillamont
($240,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). O-Lael Stables; B-Payson Stud Inc (KY); T-Cherie DeVaux. $90,000.
Margins: HF, HD, 3/4. Odds: 9.10, 3.80, 3.50.
Also Ran: Content (Ire), Austere, Buchu, Carla's Way (Ire), Life's an Audible, Dreamfyre, Laulne (Fr), Les Pavots (Ire), Flattery, Gala Brand, Buttercream Babe. Scratched: Go With Gusto, Mo Fox Givin.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
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