Gatsas filly set for big race

ARCADIA, Calif. – Winning the race for mayor of Manchester going away this week was thrilling for Ted Gatsas and his family and now they have a real chance to hit the double, in racetrack parlance, this afternoon.

Negligee, a brilliant 2-year-old filly owned by their Sovereign Stable, is running in the $2 million Juvenile Fillies race as part of the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships at Santa Anita Park and excitement is building about this exceptional horse.

"You wait a lifetime for one like her," said Matt Gatsas, the president of Sovereign Stable, which is managed by his father, Mike Gatsas, his sister Amanda Casey, and his uncle, mayor-elect Ted Gatsas. "She's a good one and we're happy to be here with a real chance to win."

Only the best horses in the world are eligible to compete in the Breeders' Cup and Negligee proved she belonged when she captured the prestigious Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland Race Course Oct. 9 in Kentucky.

Her connections saw hints of future greatness from early on.

"On August 15th, we ran a filly named Franny Freud in the Ontario Debutante Stakes at Woodbine (in Ontario, Canada)," said John Terranova, who trains Negligee, a Kentucky-bred daughter of Northern Afleet. "Our filly won the race, but this filly ran second behind her and she ran a great race. Negligee caught everybody's eye and we knew we had to have her. We locked up the deal to purchase her privately right away."

Sovereign Stable is an ownership partnership group that sells shares in individual horses and then manages each syndicate. When Negligee won the Alcibiades, she brought home not only the trophy but the first Grade I victory, which is the highest class of thoroughbred racing, for Sovereign.

Now Negligee is poised to capture her second consecutive Grade 1 race and if she wins the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, she becomes the odds-on choice to be voted the Champion Two-Year-Old Filly. That award, known as the Eclipse Award, is thoroughbred racing's equivalent of the Academy Award.

Negligee, with jockey Rajiv Maragh up, heads to the winner's circle after edging out She Be Wild to win the Grade I Darley Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., on Oct. 9. (AP)

Negligee runs

• What: $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies
• Post time: 4:45 p.m. today.
• TV: ESPN2.
• Where to watch: Racing fans in New Hampshire can also watch and wager on the entire slate of 14 Breeders' Cup races with total purses of $25.5 million today and tomorrow at Rockingham Park in Salem, Yankee Greyhound Park in Seabrook, and The Lodge in Belmont.

> Breederscup.com: Juvenile Fillies race site

Throughout the week of training on the Santa Anita track for the 14 Breeders' Cup races, Negligee has been turning heads in the mornings even though almost all of the other horses working out are older and more experienced. She has been training brilliantly and the beautiful bay filly looks radiantly healthy and happy.

The oddsmakers have made her the 6-1 co-third choice in the field of 12 fillies but she could go off at a much shorter price come post time.

"I like John Terranova's horse, Negligee," said Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, who will saddle 6-1 co-choice Always a Princess, in the same race. "She's a nice horse, but it's very wide open."

Negilgee will retain the services of Rajiv Maragh, one of the sport's hot young jockeys and rising stars, since he fits the filly well and knows her tendencies. When they teamed together to win the Alcibiades, Negligee made a bold move to split horses in the stretch and that takes courage on the part of both horse and rider. Moreover, it is unusual for a horse as young and as inexperienced as the filly to display that much fortitude.

Ted Gatsas was unavailable for comment but Mike Gatsas was exuberant after watching their Breeders' Cup hopeful go out for her morning gallop over the racing strip yesterday.

"We're all really excited," he said. "All of the partners in the syndicate came to California to watch her race and we're all hoping she'll run a great race."