Perfect Shirl surprises in Filly & Mare Turf

Longshot Perfect Shirl won the $2 million Filly and Mare Turf on Friday, giving jockey John Velazquez his second winner of the first day of the two-day, $26 million racing showcase. Velazquez, who guided Stephanie's Kitten to victory in the Juvenile Fillies Turf earlier, piloted the 27-1 shot to the triumph in the 1 3/8 mile race as favourite Stacelita was penned in along the rail and couldn't make a late move. Nahrain, trained in England by Roger Varian and ridden by Frankie Dettori, captured second in a photo from the Aidan O'Brien-trained Misty For Me, who stumbled out of the outside 12th post but rallied under Ryan Moore. Dettori, who will begin serving a suspension on Saturday that will bar him from riding on the main Breeders' Cup day, had Nahrain in front at the top of the stretch. But Perfect Shirl produced a strong late run up the middle and passed Nahrain in the final furlong to give Canadian trainer Roger Attfield the unexpected victory. Perfect Shirl notched her first victory since July of 2010, when she won the Grade Two Lake George at Saratoga. Even Attfield admitted he was surprised, especially given the softness of the turf course after rain on Thursday and the quality of the European competition. "When I've run her on good going before she's never really handled it that well and she had to run her best race to be competitive and I didn't think she'd be able to do that on this turf course," he said. "When she turned down the back side and I could see how easily she was going, I wasn't worried any more." Dettori said Nahrain did all he asked. "What can you say? She ran a super race and had the perfect trip," Dettori said. Added Varian: "I'm really proud of her, she ran a great race and did nothing wrong on just her fifth start. She's turned up and run her race and I can't ask for anything more." Another European contender, Announce, didn't even get to the gate. Trained by France's Andre Fabre and ridden by Maxime Guyon, Announce got worked up on the parade to the post, bumped the equine ambulance with her hindquarters and was eventually scratched from the race after the track veterinarians found a mild laceration above her right hock. Guyon appeared to disagree with the decision, but on-call veterinarian C. Wayne McIlwraith said the subject wasn't up for much discussion once the vets saw the problem. "There's no time to discuss it," he said. "She did have a laceration, which means it wouldn't be humane or absolutely safe to start the filly. So she had to be scratched."