Breeders’ Cup World Championships Friday, Nov. 6 and Saturday, Nov. 7 Saturday Notes Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020 Contact: Notes Team, 859-250-0358 Juvenile and Juvenile Fillies Turf Trainer Brad Cox (Essential Quality and Aunt Pearl (IRE) – As he was preparing for another busy Breeders’ Cup day, trainer Brad Cox was also enjoying his two victories Friday with Essential Quality in the TVG Juvenile presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance and with Aunt Pearl (IRE) in the Juvenile Fillies Turf. Cox reported both juveniles came out of their races well and he’s excited about next year with them, although no firm plans have been made yet. “It was a fantastic day,” Cox said. “Both came out of their races really well. So far so good. Both are a little tired, but they have a right to be. They both appear to have bounced out of the races very well. We’ll see how things go moving forward. We don’t have anything picked out as far as races, but we’re looking very forward to coming up with a game plan for next year. These are both horses that have shown us a lot since we picked them up in the spring. It’s a long process getting to a point like this and it’s just a testament to the help, the assistants, the foremen, the exercise riders, the hotwalkers, the grooms, everyone we have in place. I’m just really proud of our staff and really appreciative of the opportunities owners have given us with really nice horses. Aunt Pearl was an expensive purchase out of Tattersalls last year and fortunate to have been given her. Obviously, Godolphin has a very well-bred homebred. Sometimes that’s what it takes to get to a stage like this. It’s very rewarding and we’re very fortunate.” Aunt Pearl already had shown she was speedy in her two victories leading into the Juvenile Filles Turf and Cox said the plan all along with to use that weapon. As the 2-1 favorite she shot out of the gate and never looked back, winning by 2 ½ lengths. “The closer we got to the race and once we had our post position, I just thought with where we were and where the other speed was, it didn’t make sense to take back or try to make her rate. Our plan was to take it to them. (Jockey) Florent (Geroux) and I talked and we both agreed we needed to get her out of the gate and into position. She was fortunate enough to do that and clear off going into the turn, which was huge. She really relaxed and showed her class. She shut off for him that second quarter and I think that’s probably where the race was won. She was able to settle that second quarter. Going into the second turn she was traveling beautifully. They were coming, but she obviously had gas left in the tank.” Essential Quality, who now becomes one of the early favorites for the Kentucky Derby next year with his Juvenile win, has now shown how versatile he is with his third straight win and third different running style. “Obviously, it was different style with Essential Quality, but not a different tactic,” Cox said. “We expected to break and be close, maybe third or fourth. We knew there was some speed in there. They kind of got away from him early. He took some dirt. (Jockey) Luis (Saez) did a good job getting him to the outside down the backside. He settled for him down the backside, but I was very concerned where we were. I think he may have been eighth. But, then I saw the 45 (for the half mile) and thought to myself these horses back up. Luis started knuckling down on him and I saw he was making a move. At the quarter pole was when I thought we had a shot. I was hoping that move he started making wasn’t going to flatten out. He’s a 2-year-old, still learning. It’s only the third race of his life. Once they straightened up, I started to feel more confident. Luis gave him a strong ride down the lane and he was able to get there. This horse has had three races and he’s been a different position every time. I think he showed his versatility and that he can overcome things. He’s good colt. He’s shown us from get go that he’s special. Very happy to be associated with him.” Cox will have five more chances to add to his Breeders’ Cup tallies Saturday, including Monomoy Girl, the morning line favorite for the Longines Distaff. Juvenile Hot Rod Charlie – Roadrunner Racing, Boat Racing and Strauss Bros Racing’s Hot Rod Charlie will be headed back to California following his runner-up finish in the TVG Juvenile at odds of 94-1. “He looks good this morning,” trainer Doug O’Neill said. “His legs are cold and he ate up. I can’t thank my crew enough for the job they did with him here.” Following a pattern O’Neill has used over the years, Hot Rod Charlie came to Keeneland nearly two weeks before the Breeders’ Cup and had a 5f work over the track last Saturday. “One thing I love about Keeneland is there are lot of options here with the (all-weather) training track that I am sure he probably was on,” O’Neill said. “He really thrived here.” Hot Rod Charlie is nominated to the $200,000 Los Alamitos Futurity to be run at 1 1/16m on Dec. 19 but he is no guarantee to resurface there. “I am going to huddle with the owners in the next few days,” O’Neill said of plans for Hot Rod Charlie. “But probably in my gut I am thinking you will not see him until early next year.” Keepmeinmind/Dreamer’s Disease – Cypress Creek and Arnold Bennewith’s Keepmeinmind and Dreamer’s Disease, third and sixth respectively behind Essential Quality in the TVG Juvenile, are headed back to Churchill Downs to join trainer Robertino Diodoro’s string there. Diodoro said it was unlikely either colt would wheel back in three weeks for the $200,000 Kentucky Jockey Club on Nov. 28 going 1 1/16m. “We are going to see how they are over the next week, but most likely we’ll wait until Oaklawn,” Diodoro said via text. Juvenile Fillies Vequist – There were good vibes all around the far end of Barn 66 at Keeneland Saturday morning as the connections of Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Vequist basked in the achievements of the dark bay daughter of Nyquist. Trainer Butch Reid reported that all was well with his charge in the aftermath of her 2-length triumph over budding rival Dayoutoftheoffice in the Juvenile Fillies, an effort that now puts Vequist in position to take home an Eclipse Award for divisional honors. While horses can sometimes fool their caretakers by flaunting one kind of form in the morning only to give off an entirely different impression in the afternoons, Vequist more than backed up the serious tout she had made for herself this week as one of the best looking horses during training hours. “When I saw her in the morning jogging and stuff, I thought she looked really good but then when she got over there into the paddock in the afternoon, I thought she looked spectacular,” said Reid, who previously won the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Marathon with Afleet Again. “In my mind, I thought she won the paddock show. She looked good, calm, relaxed. We felt pretty good.” Vequist now has two wins from four career starts with both of her triumphs coming in top-level races. She broke her maiden by a jaw-dropping 9 ½ lengths in the Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga on Sept. 6 but was beaten in the Grade 1 Frizette by Dayoutoftheoffice. Under heady handling from Joel Rosario Friday, Vequist used an inside trip to turn the tables on her rival and make her sire Nyquist one of now 24 stallions to win a Breeders' Cup race and sire a Breeders’ Cup winner. “We figured she would be laying close and it seemed like the inside was good all day,” Reid said. “And we had Joel in the irons. We had full confidence in the horse and the rider. This is my second Breeders’ Cup win but this was really a special one because she’s a homebred and I was able to do it for Tom McGrath and Gary Barber and Adam Wachtel. It makes it extra special.” Vequist was bred by McGrath’s Swilcan Stables with McGrath selling an interest in the filly to Barber and Wachtel after she finished second in her career debut at Parx on July 29. To Reid’s delight, the new addition to the ownership had no intention of taking the filly out of his care. “That’s something rare in this business that something like that happens. Normally that’s it and the horse is gone,” Reid said. “I didn’t know them (Barber and Wachtel) until I talked to them on the phone. In fact I met Gary Barber for the first time yesterday.” Reid added that Vequist will now head to Dr. Barry Eisaman’s farm in Florida for a freshening to prepare for what he hopes is a successful trip down the Kentucky Oaks trail in 2021. “Four starts as a 2-year-old is plenty for me and we got her stretched around two turns, which is what I wanted,” Reid said.