Meringue wins four-horse photo in Juvenile Fillies
Published 10:05 pm Sunday, August 31, 2025
Trainer Rodolphe Brisset visits with Meringue at Kentucky Downs in Franklin. (CADY COULARDOT / Coady Media)
FRANKLIN — With four horses hitting the finish seemingly together in the $1 million Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies, trainer Rodolphe Brisset thought Meringue had won. But he wasn’t going to take anything for granted. Still, no other jockey other than Luan Machado stayed on his mount after pulling up near the winner’s circle.
“On the TV it looked like we were up,” Brisset said after Meringue’s head victory over Red Beretta. “But you always want to be sure, right? It was a great effort.”
To a Flame finished another nose back in third, with Rose Bloom a head back in fourth in the field of ten 2-year-old fillies.
“I was pretty sure I did,” Machado said of winning. “They started taking too long. I was confused, because I thought I won.”
Meringue continued to prove adept on both turf and dirt. After winning her debut at five-eighths of a mile on turf at Churchill Downs, she finished second on dirt in Saratoga’s Grade 3 Adirondack.
Asked what’s in her future, Brisset joked, “I’ll run her on the dirt next time. That’s the plan. Turf, dirt, turf, dirt. No, I’ll just see how she comes out of it. We’ll have the option between the Alcibiades (Grade 1 on dirt) or the Jessamine (G2 on turf) at Keeneland. I think she can run on both surfaces.
“Today the trip was not really the trip we were looking for. She broke way better than we expected. She’s not a very good gate horse. Today she showed she’s learned, so we’ll see what happens. I want to give myself a couple of days and decide.”
Whether on turf or dirt, Brisset believes Meringue is of the quality to run in a Breeders’ Cup 2-year-old race.
“I wouldn’t have run her on a Grade 3 on dirt at Saratoga and then come back here in the $1 million race if we didn’t think she had enough talent to be in a high league,” he said.
Meringue closed from ninth, about five lengths off the early lead, with Machado fanning her out to chase down the leaders.
“She broke very sharp, but there were some horses that were very determined to get the lead,” Machado said. “She ended up stepping back a little bit, maybe a little farther than I wanted to be, because she broke too good. I wasn’t supposed to get back that far, but she kind of got in a little tight spot. I would rather stay comfortable, laying behind than be in trouble and give her an uncomfortable trip just to try to stay in a spot (where) I didn’t belong. But I’m glad she responded well to that. She recovered very nicely, and I was able to save her a little bit to the end.”
Behind fractions of 22.10 seconds, 44.80, 1:09.37 and 1:21.57, Meringue finished up the mile in 1:34.61. She paid $13.20, $6.14 and $5.98 as the fourth choice.
“The last quarter was when I really asked her … and she fought, she fought back,” Machado said. “She was a warrior today.”
Red Beretta finished second at 75-1 under Evin Roman, with To a Flame 8-1 and Rose Room 18-1. Soloist was another half-length back in fifth, followed by Oscar’s Encore, favored Loveliest, I’ve Got the Honey, Back Ring Buzz and Chambourcin.
Machado now is 2 for 2 on Meringue, with Flavien Prat aboard for the Adirondack.
“The first time out we were very impressed,” Machado said. “We knew she was OK. But in the race, she showed way more than what she showed in the morning.”
Asked why he started Meringue out on turf, Brisset said: “This year we’re fortunate enough to have a really good group of 2-year-olds, and everybody got ready at the same time. She was working good on the dirt. The timing was right to run her in there (on turf at Churchill Downs). I was hoping the race would come off the turf, too. But you get (her sire) Frosted, Tapit, Street Sense mare, I didn’t see anything against running her on grass. The owners are really nice. I told them she may get beat first time out, but we want to give her the experience and go from there. That’s what we do. So we ran her that day, and she made us look good.
“It was a graded stakes at Saratoga. She’s worked great on the dirt. It was a short field. We got a little unlucky. She drew the inside first time out; she took a left coming out of the gate. She drew the outside second time out, she took a right turn. You can see today she broke forward. We were hoping she’d learn the gate issue, hoping she’ll learn racing. She’s improving, and that was a very good race.”
The Kentucky-bred Meringue earned $586,750 and now had made $691,050 for owners Stephen and Denise Smith’s Elements Racing. They also bred the filly under the name of Mesingw Farm.
“It’s not all about the money,” Brisset said. “We just want to win races, and the money just comes with it.”