Asmussen may have the filly for Philly

At a cool million apiece with Grade 1 glory to boot, the Pennsylvania Derby and the Cotillion Stakes will dominate Saturday’s entertainment and fuel a festive afternoon at Parx Racing in suburban Philadelphia. One race will be run strictly for fortune, while the other holds the promise of fame.

In case anyone has forgotten, the 3-year-old male champion of 2018 was decided months ago when Justify crossed the finish line in the Belmont Stakes as the 13th winner of the Triple Crown. Ever since broadly accepted voting for year-end honors began in the 1930s, each and every Triple Crown winner has been named both the best of his division as well as Horse of the Year, and there is no reason to believe 2018 will be any different.

That means the Pennsylvania Derby will have to be its own reward, so good hunting to Hofburg, McKinzie, Mr Freeze, and the rest. The Cotillion, on the other hand, is ripe with championship possibilities, matching as it does the first three finishers from the Kentucky Oaks: Monomoy Girl, Wonder Gadot, and Midnight Bisou. For added spice, the field for the mile and onesixteenth race also includes Chocolate Martini, winner of the Fair Grounds Oaks, and Separationofpowers, last year’s Frizette winner who is coming off a game victory in the Grade 1 Test.

Inaugurated in 1969, the history of the Cotillion began with winners like Shuvee, Susan’s Girl, and My Juliet, and more recently has been won by Songbird and Havre de Grace.

Monomoy Girl is unbeaten this year and 8 for 9 in a career that finds her on a run of four straight Grade 1 victories at four different tracks. Her only loss came in her final start at 2 in the mile and one-sixteenth Golden Rod at Churchill Downs, when she was edged after a fevered stretch battle with Road to Victory.

So there, Monomoy Girl is mortal after all, and Mark Casse should know since he trains Road to Victory for a partnership that includes Gary Barber. (The daughter of Quality Road is at Casse’s Ocala training camp, getting a break.) In that same spirit, Casse has tried to defeat Monomoy Girl twice with Wonder Gadot, another Barber filly, but they went home frustrated after both the Rachel Alexandra and the Kentucky Oaks.

“It’s not an easy task,” was Casse’s succinct reply to the challenge of beating Monomoy Girl.

Wonder Gadot’s consolation prize was winning two-thirds of the Canadian Triple Crown against colts, followed by an ambitious but disappointing race in the Travers. She will try Monomoy Girl again in the Cotillion, and so will Midnight Bisou.

A daughter of Midnight Lute, Midnight Bisou was narrowly favored over Monomoy Girl when she finished third in the Kentucky Oaks. Blame it on her impressive California campaign, during which she won three stakes for trainer Bill Spawr, including the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks.

Following her Kentucky race, Midnight Bisou was handed to Steve Asmussen by the Bloom Racing partnership for an Eastern campaign, and she has run three times since. After she won the Mother Goose at Belmont by six lengths, Asmussen was effusive in his praise of Spawr’s lingering impact, but by now the Hall of Famer is on his own hook. Midnight Bisou’s second to Monomoy Girl in the CCA Oaks and third as the choice in the Alabama both belong chapter and verse to Asmussen.

“She’s an unbelievably straightforward filly,” Asmussen said. “Very kind, very agreeable. Couldn’t have been any easier. She was in great physical and mental shape when we got her, and her consistency is amazing in terms of her attitude, her appetite, disposition. Everything.”

That consistency includes a record of four wins, three seconds, and two thirds in nine starts, although she was never really in the thick of things in the 10-furlong Alabama.

“I think a mile and a quarter is past her best,” Asmussen said. “Then again, I think a mile and a quarter at Saratoga is past most everybody’s best. The quantity of dirt, the kickback – it’s a very trying set of circumstances at a trying place.”

Asmussen declined to offer excuses for Midnight Bisou’s second in the CCA Oaks.

“I don’t like stories after the fact,” he said. “Do your talking on the racetrack. I will say the circumstances have not allowed us our best yet.”

Which brings Midnight Bisou to the Cotillion, for which Asmussen is getting very positive vibes. Midnight Bisou will be trying to give the trainer his third win in the race, joining My Miss Aurelia and Untapable.

“Obviously, I feel very strongly about her,” he said. “She’s a very special filly, and I think the mile and a sixteenth under the circumstances at Parx will be ideal for her.”

As for the chances Midnight Bisou could challenge Monomoy Girl for the top spot in the division, Asmussen is far from pessimistic.

“We’ve stated all along there’s plenty of racing left, and all a matter of how you finish,” he said.

Clearly, Monomoy Girl can close out an Eclipse Award by winning the Cotillion. It’s as simple as that. But if Wonder Godot or Midnight Bisou should steal the show, then the championship remains in play, and the first three finishers from the Kentucky Oaks will resume their argument at Churchill Downs in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Nov. 3. As scenarios go, that would be very cool.