Lennilu ‘Perfect’ Following Leinster Hollywood Beach Romp

Next Stop Del Mar for G1 BC Juvenile Turf Sprint Oct. 31
Friday’s Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Estimated at $125,000

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Rising star Lennilu exited her dominating 1 ¾-length romp in Saturday’s $75,000 Leinster Hollywood Beach at Gulfstream Park in good order.

“She’s doing very good,” trainer Patrick Biancone said Sunday morning from his stable at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream’s satellite training facility in Palm Beach County. “Perfect.”

Lennilu stalked Monster into the stretch before breezing by the 3-2 favorite to win the five-furlong turf stakes for juveniles going away as the 9-5 second choice. The mighty daughter of race sponsor Leinster ran five furlongs in 54.97 seconds on the way to her third stakes victory and fourth win in five starts. Her only loss came in a third-place finish in the Queen Mary (G2) at Royal Ascot won by Aidan O’Brien-trained True Love, who happened to win a Group 1 stakes at Great Britain’s Newmarket earlier in the day Saturday.

Biancone confirmed Lennilu will be pointed toward the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1) at Del Mar Oct. 31. After beating the boys in the Hollywood Beach, she’ll take them on again in the five-furlong Juvenile Turf Sprint rather than run against fillies in the one-mile Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) the same day.

“After the Queen Mary, I said we would give her some time to recover and get her ready for the Breeders’ Cup [Juvenile Turf] Sprint – and here we are,” said Biancone, whose multiple stakes-winning filly earned a ‘Win & You’re In’ berth in the five-furlong Queen Mary with a victory in the five-furlong Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies Turf at Gulfstream May 10.

In addition to notching stakes wins in the Royal Palm Juvenile Turf and the Leinster Hollywood Beach, Lennilu prepped for Saturday’s return to turf with a game victory in the $100,000 Desert Vixen, the six-furlong first leg of the FTBOA Florida Sires Stakes series on dirt.

Lennilu’s stablemate Squire came out of his fifth-place finish in the Hollywood Beach in good order.

“Squire came out good, but he’s just not as good, and he wants a little more distance,” said Biancone of the son of Leinster, whose only turf start from his three previous races was a second-place finish in the Royal Palm Juvenile.

Friday’s Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Estimated at $125,000

The 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot pool will be estimated at $125,000 when the Sunshine Meet resumes with a 10-race program Friday, Oct. 3.

First race post time is 12:50 p.m.

Friday’s sequence spans Races 5-10. The feature comes in Race 9, where 8-year-old multiple stakes-winning mare Choose Joy is entered to make her long-awaited return in an optional claiming allowance for fillies and mares 3 and up scheduled for five furlongs on the grass. It will be the first start in 435 days for Choose Joy, a $35,000 auction purchase that has won $412,745 in purses from 26 starts.

In the Rainbow 6, the jackpot pool is paid out only when there is a single unique ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique ticket, 70 percent of that day’s pool goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners while 30 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.

Notes: Jockey Jonathan Ocasio registered back-to-back wins Sunday aboard Classic of Course ($6.20) in Race 5 and Sweet Cha Cha ($5.20) in Race 6 … Jockey Miguel Vasquez also doubled with Zo Zucchera ($3.80) in Race 2 and Raging Fury ($4.80) in Race 8, as did Emisael Jaramillo on Misprint ($5.40) in Race 4 and Le Amazonia ($) in Race 9.