Title: Undefeated Filly Lennilu Set to Compete at Royal Ascot After Impressive Victory at Gulfstream Park
Lennilu has given trainer Patrick Biancone confidence that the gray 2-year-old filly is ready to take on Royal Ascot.
“I think we have the right horse to do that,” Biancone said Wednesday.
Lennilu earned a berth in the Group 2 Queen Mary at the Royal Ascot meeting with her 3 3/4-length romp in the May 10 Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies at Gulfstream Park.
The daughter of Leinster debuted April 6 at Keeneland with a length victory in a 4 1/2-furlong maiden special weight race on dirt. In the five-furlong Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies, she prompted the early pace before taking over and drawing clear, taking to the turf in a big way to earn her trip to England.
“She’s doing good. Everything is going perfectly. She will be leaving the 10th for Newmarket and will run June 18 at Ascot,” Biancone said.
Lennilu returned to the work tab at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream’s satellite training facility in Palm Beach County, Friday with an easy half-mile breeze in preparation for her planned start in the Queen Mary on June 18. Like the Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies, the Queen Mary will be contested at five furlongs on turf.
Lennilu, who is owned by Amy Dunne, Caitlin Dunne, Brenda Miley, Jean Wilkinson, Hoffman Family Racing, Tranquility Lake Farm, Maury Harrington, and Christopher Harrington, will not be accompanied by stablemate Squire to Royal Ascot.
Squire, a son of Leinster who won at first asking April 18 at Gulfstream, finished second in the May 10 Royal Palm Juvenile, in which he dueled for the lead before weakening late.
“Squire, we gave him a break. He wasn’t mature enough mentally to go to Ascot,” Biancone said. “He went back to the farm to relax a little bit for a month and come back in a month.”
Leinster, a son of Majestic Warrior who stands at Pleasant Acres Stallions in Morriston, Fla., was a multiple graded-stakes winner on turf who closed out his career with a third-place finish in the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland and a victory in the 2021 Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint (G3). Biancone said all offspring of Leinster have one thing in common.
“They’re all fast,” he said.
Biancone-trained Emerald Ember, who lost his recent debut by a nose, and Jose D’Angelo-trained Monster, who graduated in his turf debut last week by nine lengths for Arindel, also were sired by Leinster, a first-crop sire.
