ARCADIA, Calif. – Street Band’s pedigree predicted a long wait before the light bulb went on. Owner-trainer Larry Jones saw the same thing with Street Band’s dam and five siblings. “This family, I’ve trained them all, and it takes them a long time to come around,” Jones said. Perhaps it is fate Street Band’s rider Sophie Doyle also is a late bloomer. Doyle will return to California on Saturday as a tougher, better rider than when she began her U.S. career eight years ago at Santa Anita. As for Street Band, she is a little less tough, and a legit contender in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. It did not happen overnight. :: BREEDERS’ CUP 2019: See DRF’s special section with fields, odds, comments, and more Horse and rider teamed for a decisive victory in the Cotillion Stakes at Parx last month. It was the first Grade 1 win for Doyle and Street Band. Both have come a long way. The personable Doyle is an English expatriate and sister of jockey James Doyle. While her brother became one of Europe’s top riders, Doyle had limited success in England riding show jumpers and on the flats. She branched out, and temporarily relocated to Santa Anita eight years ago to exercise horses in winter. She was 24 when she rode her first U.S. race. “It was six and a half down the hill,” Doyle said, recalling the race as if it was yesterday. Unplaced in her first two mounts, she exercised horses in winter 2011 and 2012 at Santa Anita. She was ready to relocate permanently to the U.S. to “restart my career.” It would be tough breaking into Southern California. “Here, it’s very cliquey. You have the same riders, year in and year out, the same trainers,” she said. “I didn’t think I was going to fit.” Doyle settled on the Midwest circuit. For a European turf rider, the switch to American dirt racing required a makeover. With input from trainer John Ortiz, Doyle worked on “getting low in the saddle, not moving my backside too much, keeping my elbows in tight, and learning about my times.” Doyle did not set the world on fire her first full year in the Midwest in 2014, but achieved increasing success each year. The 2019 season has been the best for Doyle, now 33. “I’ve improved mentally. The racing game is not for the weak-minded, you have to be really thick-skinned, really tough.” Until this year, her biggest win was a Grade 2 sprint with Fioretti, still Doyle’s only Breeders’ Cup ride. She finished 13th in the Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland in 2015. Trainers notice when a jockey works hard, and that helped Doyle land the mount on Street Band. Late last year, Doyle skipped Churchill Downs fall and shipped early to Fair Grounds to exercise horses for Jones, Street’s Band’s owner, breeder and trainer. The high-strung Street Band was coming off an allowance loss Keeneland. One morning, Jones asked Doyle to work the filly. Bingo. “It just looked like the horse settled better,” Jones said. “We really liked what we saw, and when the time came [for a race], we named her up.” Perfect match. “She’s a ‘high’ filly, she gets easily roused up,” Doyle said. With Doyle in the irons, Street Band has learned to settle, in works and races. The light bulb went on Jan. 13 at Fair Grounds. Street Band and Doyle hooked up with highly regarded Cosmic Code in an allowance race, went head and head the final quarter-mile, and won by a nose. That day, Street Band learned how to win a fight. But there was work to be done. She still tended to get keyed up. “She’s got that fire, she can be amped up,” and Doyle made it her mission to settle her down. “If I can get her to settle the first quarter, I can get her to win.” While riding the Arlington spring-summer meet and finishing seventh in the standings, Doyle frequently made the five-hour drive to Churchill Downs to work Street Band. It paid off with wins in the Fair Grounds Oaks in spring and Indiana Oaks in summer, prior to the Cotillion breakout. Street Band lagged off the pace, rallied wide and won clear. “Sophie just kind of lets her get in a rhythm,” Jones said. “It seems like she is relaxing better.” Maybe she will upset favorite Midnight Bisou in the Distaff, or maybe Street Band is still a year away. Remember, the family takes a while. Meanwhile, excitement is building for Street Band’s 2-year-old full sister. The unraced Street Missy, sired by Istan and produced by Street Minstrel, is sending the right signals. “I tell everybody she’s so much better than Street Band, we can hardly stand it,” Jones said. He was half-joking, but said Street Missy “looks to be at least the second best the mare has had. We do like her.” Doyle has worked Street Missy, and will ride the full sister to Street Band when she makes her debut later this year. It is family affair, after all. “Sophie is claiming dibs on the family,” Jones said. “And it looks like the family likes her, so we’re good.”