Just four 3-year-old fillies loaded into the starting gate in the $300,000 Garden City Breeders' Cup Stakes (G1), a 1 1/8 mile event over the inner turf course. Jockey Jerry Bailey sent 0.95-1 favorite My Typhoon to the front immediately and she took the field through fractions of 24.32, 47.40, and 1:10.37 with 2-1 second choice Luas Line sitting comfortably in second just 1 1/2 lengths off the pace. Turning for home, Luas Line eased up alongside the favorite, and the pair of fillies briefly collided with a flock of geese at about the 3/16 pole. Luas Line drifted slightly but found her stride and powered away to win by 1 1/2 lengths over late-running Asi Siempre in a brisk 1:45.62, a new stakes record and just 0.27 second off the course record.
Results Chart from DRF
Winning jockey John Velazquez said, "I was stalking Jerry (Bailey) because I didn't want to let him go too easy. The more I got closer to Jerry, the more confidence my filly had. They told me just to be careful if she takes the lead too early because she would pull up. Going to the three-sixteenths pole, we both switched leads and we went `Oh, (blank)!' We must have run over two or three geese. One of their feathers was in my foot. It was a delayed reaction. After she went through them, then she got scared."
Gary Stevens aboard second place finisher Asi Siempre said, "I gave her a lot to do in a four-horse field. I had a little too much confidence in her. I think I underestimated the winner a little bit. She's a very good filly."
Jerry Bailey, aboard beaten favorite and third place finisher My Typhoon, said, "I knew I was going to be there (on the lead), but she ran off. I couldn't get her settled. That's definite in turf racing."
On to the Man O'War won by Better Talk Now
On to the Gazelle won by In The Gold
Back to the Woodward Stakes won by Saint Liam
