by Steve Bailey

Trainer Josie Carroll does not hesitate when asked whether she is disappointed reigning champion older mare Zenyatta drew into the $5-million Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) instead of the $2-million Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic (G1), a race she won handily at Santa Anita Park last year.

“No,” said Carroll, who will saddle 2-to-1 morning-line favorite Careless Jewel in the 1 1/8-mile race. “Not a bit.” (Click here for video of Carroll talking about Careless Jewel)

Godolphin will have two starters in Grade 1 winners Cocoa Beach (Chi) and Music Note, who finished second and third, respectively, behind Zenyatta in the 2008 race. Rick Meetee, assistant to trainer Saeed bin Suroor, is not sorry the hard-charging filly will not be in the field of eight on Friday afternoon.

“You’re certainly less apprehensive and more confident without her in there,” Mettee said.

The absence of Zenyatta does, however, completely change the complexion of the race for all involved.

“You don’t have to worry so much about looking behind you as the field turns for home, which everyone would have been doing because she would have been making her move,” Mettee said.

“Now, you just have to worry about that horse getting loose on the lead and having to go catch her.”

“That horse” is Careless Jewel, who enters the Ladies Classic unbeaten in her previous five starts by a combined margin of 32½ lengths.

The three-year-old gray or roan Tapit filly, one of two three-year-olds in the field along with European invader Rainbow View, has spent nearly all of her career on the lead—and by wide margins.

In the Alabama Stakes (G1) on August 22 at Saratoga Race Course, however, Careless Jewel was forced to chase the pace as Be Fair jumped out to the front and led through three-quarters of a mile. Careless Jewel, under jockey Robert Landry, waited patiently before taking charge and drawing off to an easy 11-length victory.

“This filly has a lot of natural speed, so she can dictate a lot of things,” said Carroll, who will saddle her first Breeders’ Cup starter. “But I think she proved in the Alabama that if someone wants to go out there and try to take control, she’s able to sit back and wait until she’s ready to make her move and then have enough to be able to create some distance.”

Mettee said he would be shocked if any of the other fillies and mares challenged Careless Jewel early or tried to take the lead outright.

“I don’t see a lot of other speed in the race, so she’s probably going to be out there,” he said. “The trick is to not let her get so far out in front that you have to do too much at the end.”

Careless Jewel will break from the inside post while Cocoa Beach and Music Note will start from posts six and seven, respectively.

“These are both talented fillies that don’t have any problem rating off a quick pace,” Mettee said. “They’ve been out here for about three weeks now and are training very well. The fact that they had such strong finishes here last year gives us a lot of confidence that they will run big races.”

Music Note, the second choice on the morning line at 9-to-5, enters off back-to-back clear victories in the Ballerina Stakes (G1) on August 29 at Saratoga and the Beldame Stakes (G1) on October 3 at Belmont Park. Cocoa Beach, who finished third behind Zenyatta in the Lady’s Secret Stakes (G1) on October 10 at Santa Anita, is 8-to-1 on the morning line.

The field also includes Grade 1 or Group 1 winners Life is Sweet, Mushka, and Rainbow View, multiple graded stakes winners Lethal Heat and Proviso (GB).

Steve Bailey is deputy news editor of Thoroughbred Times