Breeders' Cup winning filly headed for Risen Star

By: SPORTS NETWORK

New Orleans, LA (SportsNetwork.com) - Ria Antonia, winner of last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, will make her first start as a 3-year-old versus the boys in Fair Ground's Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 22.

Owned in part by Loooch Racing Stable, Ria Antonia is trained by Jeremiah Englehart who has the filly stabled at Fair Grounds since Jan. 11.

"She loves it here," said Englehart's assistant Elizabeth Dobles Friday morning. "The best day of training we've had here so far was yesterday, and today was just as good. She's on a schedule where we breeze her once a week and then walk, jog and gallop successfully in the days after her works."

Ria Antonia is scheduled to have a workout Saturday, one week after going 49.60 seconds for a half-mile.

The filly was placed first in the Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita after finishing second at 32-1 to 5-1 third pick She's a Tiger. The two fillies brushed down the stretch which caused the disqualification. Her only other win came in her second start.

"'Ria' was just an average filly when she came to us," Dobles said, "but about a week before the Frizette (Oct 5) at Aqueduct last fall (where she finished fifth) she started to show us what kind of filly we had. Then we went out to California for the Breeders' Cup and she ran a very good race there."

The filly has earned $1,156,140 with her two wins in five starts.