Keeneland Report: Sellers in Stakes Sweep

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More often than not, the best laid plans in the Thoroughbred game don't pan out, and even more unusual are plans gone awry that come to fruition. However, if you're jockey Shane Sellers, a whole weekend of plans for Keeneland's fall opener can come together as easy as (grade) one, two, three.

On Oct. 8, Sellers won the grade I Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup for 3-year-old fillies on the turf with 25-1 shot Collect the Cash, which came on the heels of winning the grade II Lane's End Breeders' Futurity aboard the 2-year-old Arabian Light. The day before, on opening day, he took the grade III Fayette Breeders' Cup Stakes aboard Jadada.

In the QE II, the plan for Collect the Cash was just to "get a piece of it," according to trainer Joe Orseno. Instead, the longshot came away with a victory at the expense of Gaviola, who was seeking her seventh straight win. The Breeders' Futurity score was supposed to be a front-running effort, but those plans changed after Arabian Light was knocked around at the start and was eighth in the early going.

Last year's winner of the QE II was Perfect Sting, bred and owned by Frank Stronach's Stronach Stables, currently the pro tem divisional leader for the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (gr. IT). After Collect the Cash's race, it looks like there might be an entry this year, as she proved her mettle in this year's version of the QE II with a three-quarter-length victory over European invader Blue Moon. The Dynaformer filly, out of the Valid Appeal mare Worldly Possession, may or may not get a shot at her stablemate at Churchill Downs on Nov. 4. That decision will be left up to the Stronachs. Either way the future is rosy for Orseno, who laughed about not wanting to be pegged as a turf trainer, but said, "She'll be a better 4-year-old. She can be Sting's replacement next year."

The plans for Collect the Cash didn't include Keeneland at all, but a spot opened up in the invitational race after several defections, and a last-minute plane reservation became available to get her from New York to the Bluegrass.

"When I talked to Andy (Stronach, Frank's son and racing manager), I told him we had a good shot to get a piece of a grade I," Orseno said. "Even if we're second, the purse is a bigger pot than we could get in New York." The total purse for the QE II was $500,000, with $310,000 to the winner and $100,000 for second. "I wasn't sure of Gaviola's talents, but I thought we had a good shot against the rest of the field."

The field wasn't a soft one, but Gaviola stood out off her six consecutive wins. And as is her custom, once the gates opened she took the advantage. Collect the Cash settled in right behind her and tracked seemingly easy fractions of :24.08, :47.60, and 1:11.54 for the opening six furlongs of the 11/8-mile race. "I was trying not to pay attention to the fractions," Orseno said. "We were going just as easy as could be," said the 4-5 Gaviola's rider Robbie Davis.

Sellers bided his time. "I didn't want to go out and try to track down the leader early. When you do that, you usually burn each other up and just set it up for someone else. I would just rather ride my race and try to do our best."

Gaviola entered the stretch with a 1 1/2-length advantage with Collect the Cash still drafting. Orseno still thought "we'd get a piece of it, but she had the heart to go by her."
With one strong punch, Collect the Cash and Sellers blew by Gaviola, and drove hard to the wire in 1:47.94. Gaviola, who "just didn't have any fight in her" in the stretch, according to Davis, fell back, eventually finishing sixth. Blue Moon and Theoretically, who had been next to last and last, respectively, at the start, had to be separated by a photo. Blue Moon got the nod.

Making her first start in the U.S., Blue Moon will now be trained by Ron Ellis, who reported he would not send the French-bred daughter of Lomitas to the Breeders' Cup.

Light In a Bottle
While Sellers was the hero of the afternoon, a half-hour before the QE II, he was looking like the goat on Arabian Light while in eighth position in the 10-horse Breeders' Futurity field.

"My instructions were to get out there like Captain Steve did last year," Sellers said. Last year, the Bob Baffert-trained Captain Steve won the Breeders' Futurity in wire-to-wire fashion. "But we got eliminated at the break and knocked back to last," Sellers said. He was actually eighth, but still far from the front-runners. "I got shuffled and started to take back. I just collared him up and decided to come with a late run."

Richard Mulhall, racing manager for The Thoroughbred Corp., owner of Arabian Light, was on a cell phone with Baffert, who was watching the race on television at Santa Anita. "I was talking to Bob on the phone, and he was yelling at Shane and saying what a bum he was," Mulhall said.

However, almost at the speed of light, Sellers went from bum to Baffert's chum as Arabian Light was running past contenders like breaking sticks in the 1 1/16-mile race. His move from eighth to third in a quarter mile showed maturity far beyond his three-race career, and the California-bred son of Fly So Free straightened away in the lane well clear of his rivals and was geared down in the final yards, ears up, to get the lion's share of $279,744 from the $451,200 purse. Last year's winner was also a son of Fly So Free.

"He just gobbled them up," Sellers said. "In the lane, he was looking around and took some big strides. I never did have to hit him, but I did a couple of times to let him know he needs to run on. I know he can't do that in the Breeders' Cup (Juvenile, gr. I)." The eased-up, three-length winner got the trip in 1:43.18. Dollar Bill, coming off a maiden win at Saratoga finished second after a traffic-laden stretch run, a head in front of Holiday Thunder. Burning Roma, placed first via disqualification in the grade I Futurity at Belmont in his previous start, finished a head back of Holiday Thunder.

Now The Thoroughbred Corp. has a pair of aces for a repeat in the Juvenile, which it won with Anees in 1999. Point Given, an impressive winner of the Kentucky Cup Juvenile (gr. III) at Turfway last month, gets his prep Oct. 14 in the Champagne (gr. I) at Belmont.

"We're ranking them this week and next," Mulhall joked after the race, but, on a serious note, speculated on Arabian Light's off-the-pace performance. "I think that's the way he wants to run."

Baffert not only trains the pair, but also has Del Mar Futurity and Norfolk Stakes (both gr. II) winner Flame Thrower in his shedrow.

Continued...

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