Trainer Brendan Walsh said Imaginationthelady's victory in the Jessamine Stakes (G2T) Oct. 3 at Keeneland came with a double bonus—a "Win and You're In" ticket to the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T) through the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series and no pressure from the owner to accept the bid.
But he said he sees no reason why the Not This Time filly won't show up in the big race at Del Mar Oct. 31.
Imaginationthelady was making just her second start in the Jessamine, following a front-running, 1 1/2-length victory in a valuable maiden affair at Kentucky Downs. Walsh said, as a youngster still learning her business, the filly benefitted from a sharp ride by Frankie Dettori.
Sitting behind the early speed, "there were a lot of fillies moving outside of him," Walsh said. "It's natural to want to go with them but Frankie waited and it paid off."
Moving smoothly through the final sixteenth, Imaginationthelady finished 1 length to the good of runner-up Infinite Sky, a Godolphin homebred also by Not This Time, who also broke her maiden at Kentucky Downs in her last start.
Time to Dream completed the trifecta for sire Not This Time. The only starter who did not make her last start at Kentucky Downs, she entered the Jessamine undefeated with impressive victories in two starts at Saratoga Race Course.
"Brendan was very confident going into the race," Dettori said. "She's a big filly with a long stride and I was able to get her to relax. She can do whatever. She improved and we thought she would."
Walsh said owner Mark Dobbin is "based in New York but he has a lot of horses in Ireland. He's been great with me. There was no pressure before the Kentucky Downs race and there was no pressure to bring her here after she won that."
Now?
"There's still no pressure for the Breeders' Cup. But if everything looks good, I see no reason we wouldn't be there. She's become a very good 2-year-old and she'll turn into a very good 3-year-old," he said.
Godolphin's Michael Banahan said there's every chance Infinite Sky could show up at Del Mar, too, after running from last in the field of 11 to just miss in the Jessamine.
Luan Machado, who rode Infinite Sky, said trouble out of the gate cost him position and maybe the race.
"I believe I had the best filly in the race today. I was very proud of her performance and the way she tried for me. The whole team, we are very happy with her," Machado said.
Irad Ortiz Jr., aboard Time to Dream, said he had traffic, then "waited a little too long and it cost me the race."
Imaginationthelady was bred in Kentucky by Ashview Farm & Colts Neck Stables. She was produced by the War Front mare Romanticism. Walsh has trained the filly on the Turfway Park all-weather course.
Not This Time, a son of Giant's Causeway, entered stud in 2017 and stood the 2025 season at Taylor Made Stallions near Nicholasville, Ky., for a $175,000 fee. Imaginationthelady is his 10th graded stakes winner of 2025, and among other accomplishments, he was the sire of 14 seven-figure yearlings at this year's Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
