By Steve Sherack
DEL MAR, CA – Immersive (Nyquist) capped a perfect four-for-four championship season with a powerhouse performance in Friday's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar.
Off as the 2-1 favorite, the Godolphin homebred was away in good order from post three. The GI Spinaway Stakes and GI Darley Alcibiades Stakes heroine settled in mid-pack beneath Manny Franco, racing inside of impressive GI Frizette Stakes winner and second-choice Scottish Lassie (McKinzie) as $1.8- million OBS March breezer and 'TDN Rising Star' Nooni (Win Win Win) sped off through fractions of :22 and :44.99 with Japan's American Bikini (Jpn) (American Pharoah) in closest pursuit.
Franco began to go to work on Immersive, now racing in fifth, three furlongs from home. Narrow GI Del Mar Debutante Stakes runner-up Vodka With a Twist (Thousand Words) and Scottish Lassie, meanwhile, made runs in unison to strike the front as Nooni backed out of it into the lane, but Immersive, widest of all in the four path, was absolutely rolling now.
Immersive switched over to her right lead right on cue and exploded from there to win going away by 4 1/2 lengths. Vodka With a Twist stayed on to finish second while making her two-turn debut. Quickkick (McKinzie) rallied from last of nine to round out the top three.
Immersive is the 11th Breeders' Cup winner for trainer Brad Cox and his second in this race. He also saddled champion British Idiom to a victory in the Juvenile Fillies in 2019.
“Obviously, they were rolling pretty quick up front and Manny (Franco) did a great job putting her in a great position,” Cox said. “She broke well. Showed her stamina and ability to handle two turns. I think the further the better. She's a very good filly and showed it today, again. That was a huge performance.”
Cox added, “I think 2-year-old fillies, she's the best we've had. To accomplish what she has, we've not had one win three Grade Ones at two. Excited about what she accomplished, proud of her, and looking forward to next year.”
Immersive, a debut winner at 10-1 odds at Saratoga July 21, earned a career-best 83 Beyer Speed Figure in the Spinaway in the mud at the Spa Aug. 31. She handled two turns with aplomb in the Alcibiades at Keeneland last time Oct. 4.
“She was there for me and she responded pretty well,” Franco said after collecting his second career win at the Championships. “She doesn't have a big turn of foot and she's a grinder, but at the same time, I feel like I'm going to get there. It means a lot. These are the races we dream of and that's what we're here for. I think she's the best 2-year-old filly right now, no doubt. I'm just blessed.”
Pedigree Notes:
Nyquist, an unbeaten winner of the 2015 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile and the following term's GI Kentucky Derby, is now the sire of two Breeders' Cup winners. The Darley Stallion's seven Grade I winners also include the 2020 Juvenile Fillies heroine Vequist. The Nyquist x Bernardini cross is also responsible for GISW Gretzky the Great.
Sheikh Mohammed's operation paid $2 million for Immersive's second dam, GI Ballerina Breeders' Cup Stakes winner Dubai Escapade, at the now-defunct 2004 Barretts Selected 2-Year-Olds in Training sale.
Three-time winner Gap Year had a filly by Street Sense this year and was bred back to that same sire.
This is also the extended female family of the very talented Madcap Escapade (Hennessy) and her GISW daughter Mi Sueno (Pulpit).
“Being by Nyquist made it that extra special for us today,” Godolphin USA Director of Bloodstock Michael Banahan said. “So grateful for our founder, Godolphin's founder Sheikh Mohammed, to put us in the position so we can raise horses like that for him and Brad (Cox) can train horses like that for him as well. And I know it gives him great enjoyment to win on the biggest stage, and there's no bigger stage than the Breeders' Cup.”
Banahan continued, “This filly's granddam was a very good race mare, just a little bit of a disappointing broodmare, but then her daughter produces this triple Grade I winner, Breeders' Cup winner and champion-elect. We have a really nice broodmare band. That's where it starts from. We've been put in that fortunate position by the collection that Sheikh Mohammed has developed over the years to be able to put us in this position.”
The undefeated filly IMMERSIVE wins the @BreedersCup Juvenile Fillies! pic.twitter.com/gqgd2tr32r
— FanDuel Racing (@FanDuel_Racing) November 1, 2024
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