Ornellaia, Tommy Jo to Test Mythical in Spinaway

Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series: Win and You’re In racing action amps up Aug. 30-31 with seven domestic automatic-qualifier races between Saratoga Race Course, Kentucky Downs, and Del Mar.

Saturday’s Pacific Classic Stakes (G1) at Del Mar and Sunday’s Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1) at Saratoga propel their winners into the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1); Del Mar’s Green Flash Handicap (G3T) and the Kentucky Turf Sprint (G2T) at Kentucky Downs are preps for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1T); the Del Mar Handicap (G2T) is a qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1T) and Saratoga’s Flower Bowl Stakes (G2T) for the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1T); and the Spinaway Stakes (G1) at Saratoga sends its winner to Del Mar with an expense-paid, automatic berth into the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1).

Most of these Breeders’ Cup races are Nov. 1 at Del Mar, with the exception being the Juvenile Fillies, which is contested Oct. 31 on Future Stars Friday.

The Spinaway offers intrigue in that it is the first qualifier of the year for a Breeders’ Cup race on the dirt for 2-year-olds. It also comes at seven furlongs, a tweener distance between the shorter sprint distances many 2-year-olds have raced this year and the 1 1/16-mile, two-turn affair that is the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

Perhaps because of this and the Spinaway’s venue at Saratoga—a showcase meet for juveniles—three of the past five Spinaway winners ended up taking the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies: champions Immersive (2024), Echo Zulu (2021), and Vequist (2020). Even one of the two Breeders’ Cup losers over that stretch ran well—2022 Spinaway winner Leave No Trace , runner-up in that fall’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

The precocious juveniles that dominated the early stakes scene do not always sustain their speed over an extended sprint in the Spinaway. Stakes newcomers, many of them debut maiden winners at Saratoga, are often formidable rivals for those who racked up early victories after kicking off their careers during the spring.

Two of those maiden graduates competing in the Spinaway—Ornellaia and Tommy Jo —appear the leading threats to Arindel’s dual Saratoga stakes winner Mythical , who, before that, won a maiden race in April at Gulfstream Park. The latter has blown out her rivals in every start.

Amo Racing USA and Memo America’s Ornellaia, a $1.1 million purchase from the Wavertree Stables consignment to the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, ran to her lofty price tag on debut when racing on Whitney day, Aug. 2, at Saratoga. Away last in the field of 10, she raced in eighth for the first half-mile of a six-furlong race before making up 7 1/2 lengths on the leaders over the final quarter-mile and drawing off for a 2 1/4-length victory. She did not strike the front until the final 40 yards of the race.

Though her 1:11.57 final time was average, generating an 81 Equibase Speed Figure, she ran her final furlong in :12.45, quick for a 2-year-old filly racing on dirt. She finished like a filly who would appreciate stretching out an additional eighth of a mile.

A dark bay or brown daughter of 2017 Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1) winner Girvin , she is one of three winners from as many foals to start out of the Broken Vow mare Scarlet Dixie .

With both her dam and second dam Chiming Dixie yet to produce any black-type runners, Ornellaia earned her lofty sales price with her attractiveness and how she breezed in the lead-up to her sale as an unraced 2-year-old. Bred in Kentucky by Twin Oaks Bloodstock, she first sold for $180,000 at the 2023 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, then $240,000 at the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Girvin’s success contributed to her sales popularity. A son of Tale of Ekati , Girvin first stood for $7,500 at Ocala Stud in Florida in 2019, but after his young horses hit the racetrack with favorable results, he was relocated in 2023 to Airdrie Stud in Kentucky. Sire of grade 1 winners Faiza and Dorth Vader , he stood this past breeding season for $25,000.

Ornellaia breaks from the rail in the Spinaway, a post that should prove no hurdle for a filly that figures to settle and come with a strong finish. With jockey Flavien Prat away from Saratoga Saturday to ride Nysos in the Pacific Classic and other races at Del Mar, Dylan Davis picks up the ride.

Spendthrift Farm’s homebred Tommy Jo, trained by Hall of Famer and six-time Spinaway winner Todd Pletcher, also picks up a replacement rider in Kendrick Carmouche. He subs for John Velazquez, who is also at Del Mar, riding Fierceness in the Pacific Classic.

Tommy Jo ran marginally faster than Ornellaia in her first-out victory July 26—clocked in 1:11.24—but received a much higher 93 ESF, seemingly owing to the track being relatively dull that afternoon. By way of illustration, the 2-year-old male Soldier N Diplomat won another six-furlong maiden race in 1:11.87 on the card.

Tommy Jo, a daughter of Spendthrift’s reigning six-time leading general sire Into Mischief , came from just off the pace to win by 3 3/4 lengths. She went from fourth to first on the turn and won under a hand ride.

“I thought she was impressive. She’s a nice filly who has trained very well,” Pletcher said.

She is out of the stakes-winning, multiple grade 1-placed Pioneerof the Nile mare Mother Mother , a half sister to 2014 Kentucky Derby (G1) runner-up Commanding Curve .