Daughter of race namesake, Leinster, Lennilu. (Lauren King)
BC Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1) Next for Multiple-Stakes Winner
David Joseph/Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Rising star Lennilu is off to Del Mar for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1) Oct 31 after capturing her third stakes victory with a thoroughly professional and dominating performance in Saturday’s $75,000 Leinster Hollywood Beach at Gulfstream Park.
Owned by Amy Dunne, Cailtin Dunne, Brenda Miley, Jean Wilkinson, Hoffman Family Racing LLC, Tranquility Lake Farms LLC, Maury Hamilton and Christopher Harrington, the daughter of Leinster was making her highly anticipated return to turf in the five-furlong sprint for 2-year-olds after prevailing by a nose in the $100,000 Desert Vixen, the six-furlong first leg of the FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes series for fillies on Gulfstream’s main track Sept. 6.
“She’s a machine,” trainer Patrick Biancone said after Lennilu beat the boys in the five-furlong turf sprint for 2-year-olds.
Sent to post as the 9-5 second betting choice, Lennilu broke alertly under Jonathan Ocasio, but was outfooted for the early lead by Monster, the 3-2 favorite ridden by Edgard Zayas. Monster, who was coming off a second-place finish in the Skidmore at Saratoga, set sharp fractions of 20.74 and 43.07 seconds for the first half mile but was quickly overtaken by Lennilu, who drew off to score by 1 ¾ lengths
“She was cruising. The other horse is fast. I told [Ocasio] to let him go. I didn’t think she would catch him so easy,” Biancone said. “She was cruising. She’s a lovely filly.”
Ocasio has ridden Lennilu in all three of her stakes victories.
“We were expecting exactly these results,” he said. “She was very relaxed the whole way. She broke excellent and we just sat behind the speed. At the three-eighths pole, I asked her, and she responded.”
The Princess Bro, an impressive debut winner in her recent debut, rallied late to finish second, 1 ½ lengths ahead of Monster. Lennilu ran five furlongs over a firm turf in 54.97 seconds
“She has a good month until the big race. We’ll fly her there by the 23rd of October and we’ll be ready,” Biancone said.
After rallying to win her 4 ½-furlong debut over a sloppy Keeneland main track April 6, Lennilu took to turf with a 3 ¾-length front-running victory in the $100,000 Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies at five-furlongs at Gulfstream May 10, earning a fees-paid berth into one of six stakes during the Royal Ascot Meet. She went on to finish third in the five-furlong Queen Mary (G2) June 18, won by Aidan O’Brien-trained True Love, who captured a Group 1 stakes at Newmarket in Great Britain earlier Saturday.
“In England today, the filly who beat her in won a Group 1. She’s the best 2-year-old in Europe,” Biancone said. “This will set [Lennilu] up perfectly for Del Mar.”
