Tin Type Gal gets up despite wide trip in Miss Grillo, eyes BC Juvenile Fillies Turf

The record will show that My Meadowview Farm's homebred Tin Type Gal prevailed over Thrilled by a nose in Sunday's $200,000 Miss Grillo (G3), but the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) contender was some way better than that.

For unlike Thrilled, who cut the corner turning for home, Tin Type Gal took the overland route throughout. In fact, the winner had one of the widest trips in the race. According to Trakus, Tin Type Gal covered  28 feet more than Thrilled, 26 feet more than third-placer Time and Motion, and 18 feet more than 2-1 favorite Llanita back in fourth.

And that just adds to the positive impression created by the blueblood from the Graham Motion barn. By Tapit and out of Grade 1-winning millionaire Miss Shop, she's a three-quarter sister to Grade 2-winning sprinter Trappe Shot (also by Tapit). The pedigree implies surface versatility, so it wouldn't be a great surprise if Tin Type Gal gets more adventurous and looks beyond the turf at some point.

Indeed, Motion said as much, while paying her a significant compliment:

"I always thought she went better on the synthetic, which makes you think turf, but to be honest, I think she'll handle the dirt. I think she'll be a superior grass horse."

Tin Type Gal never got involved in her off-the-turf debut in the Saratoga slop, but she won next time out on the Spa lawn, and certainly performed like a top-notch turfiste in the Miss Grillo. Pegged at 6-1 on the morning line, the chestnut was bet down to the 7-2 third choice, following the scratch of another prime contender in Belvoir Bay. That English shipper from the Richard Hannon yard was withdrawn due to "filling in an ankle after a blowout work yesterday," co-owner Team Valor tweeted.

In the early going, longshots Look Who's Talking and Chinchilla Dust matched strides through fractions of :24.40, :48.25 and 1:12.55 on the firm Widener turf. Thrilled raced a few lengths astern in third, with Tin Type Gal one flight back in fifth. When Look Who's Talking put away her pace nemesis in the stretch, she was confronted by Thrilled on the inside and Tin Type Gal on the outside.

Thrilled's ground-saving maneuver often would have been decisive, but Tin Type Gal was just too good. Coming relentlessly for Luis Saez, she mastered Thrilled in the battle of wills. Both had quickened very well off the steady early tempo, resulting in a final 1 1/16-mile time of 1:41.41.

"When we came to the three-eighths (pole), I had so much horse," Saez said. "I asked her a little just to see what I had and she took off, so I thought, 'well, let's go.' I saw the other one (Thrilled) coming through on the rail and I got a little worried when he got through. But I knew I had a lot of horse and when we got to the end, she fought with the other one and we beat them."

Time and Motion, another Tapit, capitalized on an inside trip to grab third. Llanita, a new recruit from France for Chad Brown, kept on well widest out and missed third by a head. Look Who's Talking tired to fifth in the 10-filly field.

Tin Type Gal will likely look to build upon this in the Juvenile Fillies Turf at Keeneland.

"You have to think about the Breeders' Cup, that's why we're here," Motion said. "We're all pointing for those races. I was thrilled with the way she ran. She's a nice filly."

Len Riggio, whose nom de course is My Meadowview, is justifiably proud:

"She looks like the real deal. She's a homebred and it feels good when you see them growing up. Looks like the Breeders' Cup is next; we're talking about it."

Photo courtesy of NYRA/Adam Coglianese Photography.