Platinum Tiara Ships to Churchill

Alcibiades Stakes (gr. II) fifth-place finisher Platinum Tiara shipped from Keeneland to Churchill Downs on Thursday morning. The Brave Raj Stakes winner will begin preparing for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I) on Friday, according to trainer Joe Waunsch and owner Rob Murphy.

"I've played the race (the Alcibiades) over in my mind a million times," said Murphy. "When I first saw the race, I thought she might have lost by 12 lengths. But when I re-examined the race, I saw that she lost by only seven lengths and I think she can make them up. Considering all the trouble that she had in the race, I'm a little surprised that she actually ran as well as she did.

"If she doesn't bobble at the start, and if she doesn't get shut off going into the first turn, she should have been right up in the front, where she belongs, and if she is up there, I think she runs a totally different race.

"We'll see how she takes to the Churchill Downs track and we'll go from there. But I think she deserves another chance."

Platinum Tiara (Cozzene--Michelle's Monarch, by Wavering Monarch) has won three of five career starts while earning $109,380. Should she start in the Breeders' Cup, she may have a new rider. South Florida-based Eibar Coa traveled to Kentucky for the Alcibiades mount.