By Jill Williams
What a way to tally a first career graded stakes. Both trainer Jorge Abreu and his charge, who entered Saturday with only a third-place finish under her girth, broke their graded maiden with a runaway score in the GI Frizette Stakes at Belmont at the Big A. Now Abreu and Scottish Lassie (f, 2, McKinzie–Bodebabe, by Bodemeister) have earned a fees-paid berth to the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies in four weeks. Abreu, a former assistant to Chad Brown, brought a longshot filly to the Juvenile Fillies last year and nearly pulled off a 17-1 upset, finishing second with Jody's Pride (American Pharoah) by a neck.
The Frizette looked like a wide-open affair on paper after 3-5 morning-line choice and 'TDN Rising Star' Senza Parole (Gun Runner) scratched Thursday. Scottish Lassie settled into third early, ears pinned and under a hold, as previously unbeaten Social Fortress (Social Inclusion) led up front with a couple of lengths clear on the field through first fractions of :22.81 and :46.20. Entering the turn, Scottish Lassie moved up to engage the leader under her own power, looking relaxed and moving easily. She swept by Social Fortress, winner of Monmouth's Aug. 24 Sorority Stakes, under a hand ride, striding clear so smoothly and thoroughly that she found herself lengths clear in the blink of an eye. Jose Lezcano never touched the stick as the two sauntered under the wire nine lengths the best. Snowyte (Good Magic), featured in a recent 'Second Chances' column, ranged up for second, 6 1/2 lengths over Social Fortress. No one else ever factored significantly in the running Saturday.
“I had really high expectations of this filly since day one,” said Abreu, who co-owns Scottish Lassie with Sportsmen Stable, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Photos Finish LLC, and Corms Racing Stable. “I was expecting a good race today. I know people didn't believe–not in her, in me–because this is the first time I've ever won a graded stakes. You need the quality to win those kinds of races, and I thought I had the horse.”
Bred in Kentucky by Dr. Naoya and Marie Yoshida's Winchester Farm, Scottish Lassie sold for $50,000 at the 2023 Keeneland September sale to Lynwood Stable before going through the ring a second time in this year's OBS March sale. After working a quarter mile in :21, she hammered to the tune of $85,000 post sale to Parkland Thoroughbreds. Abreu debuted her Sept. 1 at seven furlongs at Saratoga, where she finished third behind Quickick (McKinzie), Friday's GI Darley Alcibiades Stakes runner-up, and Snowyte (Good Magic), second here behind Scottish Lassie.
“Irad [Ortiz, Jr.] told me she didn't break as sharp that day and going from the one-hole going seven-eighths is a lot to ask,” said Abreu. “She didn't run bad. Irad said he thought she was going to improve and get a lot out of it–and she did.”
Scottish Lassie has registered three works since that maiden attempt, all over Belmont's training track, most recently going an easy :51 over four furlongs (80/112) Sept. 29. Parkland Thoroughbreds's Steve Weston shared, after the Frizette, the rational behind trying a maiden in a Grade I event.
“If we don't win [the Frizette], then we can go back and win a maiden at any time,” said Weston. “We have nothing to lose and everything to gain. The way she ran today, she could compete with any other 2-year-old in the country.”
Pedigree Notes:
One of two North American freshman sires with a Grade I winner already this year, McKinzie shot to the top of the class with Scottish Lassie's victory, an addition of a second Grade I winner to his score sheet. The Gainesway stallion, a son of Street Sense, already had 'TDN Rising Star' and GI Hopeful Stakes winner Chancer McPatrick, who added Saturday's GI Champagne Stakes a little more than 30 minutes after Scottish Lassie's Frizette, as well as Friday's aforementioned Quickick and GI Del Mar Futurity runner-up McKinzie Street, who finished third in the GI American Pharoah Stakes late on Saturday.
The Frizette winner's dam, an $8,000 purchase by Ascot Health Farm at the Fasig-Tipton Winter Mixed Sale in 2018, is a daughter of Bodemeister, the former WinStar stallion who has stood in Turkey since the 2020 season. Scottish Lassie is the fifth stakes winner out of one of his daughters.
Bodebabe, whose yearling Tiz the Law filly sold at the recent Keeneland September sale for $50,000 to the Millard R. Seldin Revocable Trust, hails from the same family as GISWs Tara's Tango (Unbridled's Song), also a 'TDN Rising Star', and Visionaire (Grand Slam). She delivered a colt by Corniche in April.
SCOTTISH LASSIE is going to the @BreedersCup! 🏆 The 2YO daughter of @Gainesway stallion McKinzie wins the Grade 1 Frizette & 10 points towards the Kentucky Oaks with Jose Lezcano up for trainer Jorge Abreu. pic.twitter.com/qzdAWsSz07
— NYRA (🌳) (@TheNYRA) October 5, 2024
Saturday, Belmont At The Big A
FRIZETTE S.-GI, $400,000, Belmont The Big A, 10-5, 2yo, f, 1m, 1:36.73, ft.
1–SCOTTISH LASSIE, 120, f, 2, by McKinzie
1st Dam: Bodebabe, by Bodemeister
2nd Dam: Zaharias, by Grand Slam
3rd Dam: Scarlet Tango, by French Deputy
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN, 1ST GRADE I WIN. ($50,000 Ylg '23 KEESEP; $85,000 2yo '24 OBSMAR). O-Sportsmen Stable, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Photos Finish LLC, Corms Racing Stable and Jorge R. Abreu; B-Winchester Farm (KY); T-Jorge R. Abreu; J-Jose Lezcano. $220,000. Lifetime Record: 2-1-0-1, $232,000. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. *11th winner, 2nd GISW for freshman sire (by Street Sense).
2–Snowyte, 120, f, 2, by Good Magic
1st Dam: Snow Fall (MSW, $197,443), by War Front
2nd Dam: Snowflake (Ire), by Caerleon
3rd Dam: Ivyanna (Ire), by Reference Point (GB)
1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE, 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($250,000 Ylg '23 KEESEP). O-Pine Racing Stables, Don Alberto Stable, Belmar Racing and Breeding, LLC and R. A. Hill Stable; B-Don Alberto Corporation (KY); T-Danny Gargan. $80,000.
3–Social Fortress, 120, f, 2, by Social Inclusion
1st Dam: Cold Hearted Pearl, by Parading
2nd Dam: Sessile, by Forestry
3rd Dam: Madam Lagonza, by Kingmambo
1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE, 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. O-Joseph M. Imbesi and Charles B. Johnson; B-Joseph Imbesi (FL); T-Jamie Ness. $48,000.
Margins: 9, 6HF, 3/4. Odds: 6.50, 1.30, 4.10.
Also Ran: Another Cleeshay, Icona Mama, Whatintheliteral, Pondering. Scratched: Paradise City, Senza Parole, The Queens M G.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
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