47-1 maiden takes Alcibiades
New surface agrees with Bel Air Beauty
By Gregory A. Hall, The Louisville Courier-Journal, October 7, 2006

LEXINGTON, Ky. — As unlikely as it might have been that tradition-filled Keeneland Race Course would replace dirt with a synthetic track, it was fitting that a 47-1 maiden won the $400,000, GradeII Darley Alcibiades Stakes yesterday.

On a day when the 70-year-old track unveiled its Polytrack racing surface, Fernando Jara rode Bel Air Beauty to her first victory in her second start, beating favored Untouched Talent by three-quarters of a length.

"I knew she was a very talented filly and the distance would be no problem with her," trainer Frank Brothers said. "And I didn't think she would be far out of line here if everything went well."

Brothers conceded the entry looked like a stretch to many in the opening-day crowd of 18,580.

"But we had a lot of faith in her," he said, "and sometimes you've got to take a chance. With a 2-year-old you can do that."

The next start for the bay daughter of Smart Strike out of the Boundary mare Awe That might be the Nov.4 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Churchill Downs.

"If she's good (after yesterday's race), we'd love to go to the Breeders' Cup," Brothers said. "But if not, she's done enough this year."

Owner Bruce Lunsford joked afterward that the filly, who paid $96.80 and earned $248,000 yesterday, is still eligible for races for non-winners of two races. Her bankroll is now $252,440 after she finished second in her other start.

Lunsford said he and Brothers were planning to run her in last month's Kentucky Cup Juvenile Fillies at Turfway Park. But after Brothers liked the way she was training and Lunsford was unimpressed by the 2-year-old fillies at Saratoga, they plotted a course for the Alcibiades.

They entered her in a maiden race at Turfway on Sept.9, where she finished second by a head after being boxed in at the quarter pole.

"If she'd have won like she should have, I don't think anybody would have questioned us today," Lunsford said.

Regardless, he said they would have been pleased just to finish in the first four yesterday. He said he told Brothers beforehand: "If you win it, you look like a genius. If you lose, they'll forget it in two minutes."

Now Lunsford said he expects Bel Air Beauty will be one of the top three choices for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.

"She moves well," he said in explaining why he and Brothers thought so much of her before she ever raced. "She's almost ... she's like a dancer. She hits the ground so well when she goes, and I think she'll get better as she gets older."

Her Majesty, who won her first start last month in a different maiden race at Turfway, finished third, 2½ lengths behind Untouched Talent.

Trainer Patrick Biancone said Her Majesty is a possibility for the Juvenile Fillies.

"It's a good indication in only the second start of her life," he said.

Before the start, Appealing Zophie, the second choice of the bettors, broke through the gate but got no farther than a few feet and was reloaded. She led up to the stretch and finished sixth.

"It didn't help," jockey Shaun Bridgmohan said of the early break. "Obviously, when you want everything to go right and the least little thing, you know, you question it."

Appealing Zophie's trainer, Scott Blasi, declined to comment. She entered the race off a victory in the Grade I Spinaway at Saratoga.

Yesterday's race drew 14 starters — the most in its 55 runnings — for the first stakes on the new Polytrack synthetic surface. Keeneland converted from dirt because the surface is safer for horses and drains better.

Rogers Beasley, Keeneland's director of racing, said that the times on the new surface were almost as fast as on the old dirt course.

When Turfway Park switched to Polytrack in September 2005, times were noticeably slower. Since then Turfway has changed its Polytrack mixture, and times have been closer to normal.

Jockey Julien Leparoux, who leads the nation in victories, won three races on the card. On Thursday he won three at Turfway, including the last race of the meet to finish with 38 victories, breaking the record of 37 set by Glen Brogan in 1968.

[Gregory A. Hall can be reached at (502) 582-4087. Jennie Rees contributed to this story.]