To view the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, click here.
by Steve Bailey
Nancy Mazzoni’s homebred She Be Wild shot through a narrow opening in the stretch, collared pacesetter Always a Princess, and inched away to victory in the $1,818,000 Grey Goose Juvenile Fillies (G1) on Friday at Santa Anita Park.
She Be Wild, ridden by Julien Leparoux, rebounded from the only loss of her young career as she tallied a three-quarter length victory over Beautician.
A winner of her first three starts—all on the synthetic Polytrack surface at Arlington Park—by a combined 18¼ lengths, She Be Wild had the lead in the stretch of the Darley Alcibiades Stakes (G1) on October 9 at Keeneland Race Course only to be overtaken by Negligee and denied her first top-level victory by a half-length.
“When they were loading, she was getting a little excited but she broke good,” trainer Wayne Catalano said after the Juvenile Fillies. “Everything went really well, and I’m really happy with her.
“I was a little worried when it looked like she might be trapped, but I have a good rider who is patient. I felt good when she poked her head in the hole. She’s not a big filly, so it doesn’t take much room.”
Always a Princess grabbed the early lead, taking the field through a quarter-mile in :23.88 and a half-mile in :47.52 as Leparoux kept his filly in hand in third, but not far behind the leader, most of the way up the backstretch.
Stuck on the rail as the field turned for home, Leparoux angled She Be Wild through a narrow gap just to the outside of Always a Princess. She Be Wild dug in for the stretch drive, powering home to cover 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.80 on the synthetic Pro-Ride surface.
“She’s priceless,” a jubilant Mazzoni said after the race. “There was a part where she had to squeeze through and then we still weren’t sure she was going to get all the way home. It’s hard to even describe this right now.”
Grade 1-placed maiden winner Beautician closed gamely to finish second, a head in front of Oak Leaf Stakes (G1) winner and 3.70-to-1 favorite Blind Luck.
She Be Wild is by freshman sire Offlee Wild, who is based at Darley in Lexington. The dark bay or brown filly is out of the Seeking the Gold mare Trappings.
Mazzoni, who got involved in racing through the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders’ Association’s Greatest Game new owners program in 2003, said the victory was the culmination of a lot of time, money, and effort during the past five years.
“Perseverance is the name of the game,” said Mazzoni, who tried to sell the filly earlier this year at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s spring two-year-olds in training sale, but she did not meet her reserve on a final bid of $19,000. “We’ve had to go through a lot of lows to get here, but days like today make it worth every low.”
For an Equibase chart, click here.
For video of She Be Wild's trainer Wayne Catalano, click here.
For more quotes, click here.
Steve Bailey is deputy news editor of Thoroughbred Times