By Steve Sherack
LEXINGTON, KY – D J Stable's Wonder Wheel (Into Mischief) was masterfully handled from far back beneath Tyler Gaffalione and produced a devastating stretch run to secure a year-end divisional championship in Friday's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Keeneland. Leave No Trace (Outwork) was three lengths back in second; Raging Sea (Curlin) finished third.
“There was lots of doubt probably the entire race given the way she has run in the past,” said winning trainer Mark Casse after registering his sixth Breeders' Cup victory. “She is just a really good horse. She is just special and now she is going to be champion.”
In a stark contrast to her narrow, wire-to-wire tally in her route debut in the local GI Darley Alcibiades S., the 6-1 chance quite surprisingly found herself far back in 11th through fractions of :22.90 and :47.22. Traveling beautifully on the inside on the far turn, but desperately in the need of some racing luck, Gaffalione kept his cool and tipped Wonder Wheel out three deep through a tight opening as they straightened. She put on a show from there to leave them all in the dust.
Wonder Wheel, a winner of her first two starts at Churchill Downs, including a runaway score in the Debutante S., was second behind the 25-1 Juvenile Fillies runner-up Leave No Trace in Saratoga's GI Spinaway S. Wonder Wheel held on by a nose over the unlucky Chop Chop (City of Light) after setting the pace in the Alcibiades. Juvenile Fillies third Raging Sea was disqualified from third for interference that day and placed fourth.
Gaffalione, the regular rider of the Casse-trained GI Preakness S. winner War of Will (War Front), entered this year's Championships with an 0-for-34 record.
“She didn't break very well,” Gaffalione said. “I got pushed back a little further than I wanted to be. But when she broke her maiden, she took dirt and went in between horses and I wasn't too concerned [today]. Spots kept opening up inside, so I just going forward and it just worked out.”
Chop Chop was last of 13 as the 2-1 favorite.
“Didn't work out very well,” trainer Brad Cox said. “She broke, she was fine. She was a little hot in the paddock for me. I didn't love that. She got pushed wide going into the first turn. She got pushed wide actually by the winner. The winner was ultra-impressive. We just didn't have much horse.”
The Green family's D J Stable, along with Cash is King, campaigned 2018 Juvenile Fillies winner and that season's champion 2-year-old filly Jaywalk (Cross Traffic).
“It's an incredible feeling, not only to win a race of this caliber at Keeneland, but to do it with these classy gentlemen,” D J Stable's Jon Green said. “Tyler's been phenomenal for us over the past couple of years, Mark has been training for us for three years now, and we've been in the Breeders' Cup every year.
Green continued, “Jaywalk won it, again, similar situation, she was third choice, kind of overlooked by a lot of people, which is fine by us; we like being the underdog, we're used to it, quite frankly.”
As for Wonder Wheel, Green concluded, “She's a classy filly. She never misses a day of training and she's got a great level head. But you still worry about asking a horse at this level to do something completely new. And that's why we employ somebody like Tyler because he just navigated her right to the rail and through an open hole and the rest is history.”
Pedigree Notes:
Wonder Wheel joins Into Mischief's rapidly growing all-star line-up of Breeders' Cup winners Authentic, Covfefe, Gamine, Life Is Good and Goldencents (2x) and ties More Than Ready for most Breeders' Cup winners with seven (Tapit is next among active sires with six). The $275,000 KEESEP yearling was already one of 13 Grade I winners for her all-conquering sire. Wonder Wheel's talented multiple stakes-winning dam Wonder Gal, a close third in the 2014 Juvenile Fillies, was barren on a 2022 Constitution cover. Wonder Wheel is her most recent produce. This is the extended female family of GISWs Force the Pass and Perfect Drift.
Friday, Keeneland
NETJETS BREEDERS' CUP JUVENILE FILLIES-GI, $1,840,000, Keeneland, 11-4, 2yo, f, 1 1/16m, 1:44.90, ft.
1–WONDER WHEEL, 122, f, 2, by Into Mischief
1st Dam: Wonder Gal (MSW & MGISP, $904,800), by Tiz Wonderful
2nd Dam: Passe, by Dixie Union
3rd Dam: Gal On the Go, by Irgun
($275,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-D. J. Stable LLC; B-Three Chimneys Farm, LLC & Clearsky Farms (KY); T-Mark E. Casse; J-Tyler Gaffalione. $1,040,000. Lifetime Record: 5-4-1-0, $1,550,725. Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree or free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Leave No Trace, 122, f, 2, by Outwork
1st Dam: Tanquerray, by Good Journey
2nd Dam: Kitty Galore, by Mountain Cat
3rd Dam: Patriot Star, by Torsion
($8,000 Ylg '21 FTKFEB; $40,000 Ylg '21 EASOCT). O-WellSpring Stables; B-Red Cloak Farm, LLC (KY); T-Philip M. Serpe. $340,000.
3–Raging Sea, 122, f, 2, by Curlin
1st Dam: Stormy Welcome, by Storm Cat
2nd Dam: Welcome Surprise, by Seeking the Gold
3rd Dam: Weekend Surprise, by Secretariat
1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE, 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($300,000 RNA Ylg '21 KEESEP). O/B-Alpha Delta Stables, LLC (KY); T-Chad C. Brown. $180,000.
Margins: 3, 1, 1 3/4. Odds: 6.50, 25.81, 6.71.
Also Ran: Sabra Tuff, You're My Girl, Grand Love, Atomically, And Tell Me Nolies, Alma Rosa, Vegas Magic, Shoplifter, Chocolate Gelato, Chop Chop. Scratched: American Rockette.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
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