The feature race at
opening day of the Keeneland Fall
meeting was the grade one Alcibiades for two year-old fillies. Run on the polytrack at a mile and a sixteenth, this
race is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge series, a “Win and You’re In”
event.
There was a full field of
fourteen horses that came to Kentucky from seven different tracks that covered
the East and West coasts, the Midwest, and Canada. They had raced on dirt,
turf, and artificial surfaces. Spring in the Air, who was listed at
12-1 on the morning line, made a big closing move down the middle of the
racetrack to win the $240,000 first place money. Spring in the Air, who ended
up as a lukewarm 4.30-1 betting favorite, joins Executiveprivilege as the second to earn a guaranteed spot in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies field.
Spring in the Air was bred
in Ontario by WinStar Farm and was purchased as a two year-old at the March
Ocala sale for $120,000 by John Oxley.
The first three races of
her career came at Woodbine. She finished second in her debut in a $150,000
restricted stake as the 1.70-1 favorite. Dropping back to a maiden special
weight as the overwhelming .20-1 favorite, she won that race by more than 10
lengths. In the grade two Natalma she switched to the turf and closed from 11th
place to finish second to the highly regarded Spring Venture. Spring in the Air was clearly very well regarded
from the before she hit the racetrack.
In the Alcibiades, Spring
in the Air raced mid-pack most of the way. Going around the turn, according to the Daily Racing Form chart, she “angled out, made a four wide run into
the stretch and closed fast to be up in time.”
Trainer Mark Casse said, “She’s just pure class. A
lot of the other fillies were getting upset in the paddock but it didn’t bother
her at all. Patrick (jockey Patrick Husbands) has ridden almost 1,000 winners
for me. He had a ton of confidence in her and rode her like he did. It took
that (confidence) to let her drop back that far and then make a run. She’s got
a pretty good surge to her when you hit the gas.”
Since
Keeneland changed to the polytrack surface in 2006, none of the Alcibiades
winners have gone on to victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. Since the start of the Breeders’ Cup in 1984,
only Eliza 1992, Countess Diana 1997, and Silverbulletday 1998 have the won the
Alcibiades and the Juvenile Fillies.
2012
Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Contenders: Executiveprivilege