Blue Stripe (ARG) Turns in Sharp 5-Furlong Drill For Breeders' Cup Distaff

Pozo De Luna’s recent Grade 1 winner Blue Stripe (ARG) drilled 5 furlongs in 1:00 over a track labeled as good shortly after 9 a.m. Wednesday in preparation for an expected start in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) here on Nov. 5.

Working on her own with Ferrin Peterson aboard, Blue Stripe reeled off fractions of :12.20, :25.20, :37.60, 1:00 then out 6 furlongs in 1:12.20, seven-eighths in 1:24.80 and a mile in 1:39.40.

“She’s got some nice gears,” Peterson told trainer Marcelo Polanco, who put the rider on her first Southern California winner at Los Alamitos in 2019.

Blue Stripe, a half-sister to 2019 Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner and two-time Juddmonte Spinster (G1) winner Blue Prize (ARG), made six starts in native country, where her four wins included the 2021 Criadores (G1) at Hipodromo Argentino de Palermo.

Blue Stripe earned a fees-paid berth into the Distaff by virtue of her victory in the Clement L. Hirsch (G1) at Del Mar on Aug. 6. She finished seventh in last year’s Distaff in what served as her U.S. debut.

“I was a little concerned (about the track after the rain overnight),” Polanco said of Blue Stripe, who arrived at Keeneland Sunday afternoon. “But it was a really nice work and she handled it pretty good.”

The work was the 10^th for Blue Stripe since winning the Clement L. Hirsch.

“Her work last week at Santa Anita (:59.60 for 5 furlongs) was very good,” said Polanco, who watched this morning’s breeze from the backstretch rail. “She’ll have one maintenance work next week.”