2021 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf: Last year's winner Audarya must earn return trip
The $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf figures to be top-heavy with European-based runners, the contenders likely to reveal themselves in major races this weekend in France and England.
Audarya, last year’s Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf winner, will hope to convince her connections to bring her to Del Mar when she runs in Sunday’s Group 1 Prix de l’Opera, the same race she finished third behind Tarnawa in last year prior to upsetting the Filly and Mare Turf at 17-1 for trainer James Fanshawe. (Tarnawa would win the BC Turf.)
Audarya is winless in three starts this year, but she is coming off a nose loss to Grand Glory in the Group 1 Jean Romanet.
“She quickened away like the winner but unfortunately just got caught late.” Fanshawe said this week. “But it was a sign that she’s back to top form.”
Fanshawe said Audarya’s Breeders’ Cup status “all depends how she runs on Sunday.”
Last year, when held at Keeneland, the Filly and Mare Turf, was run at 1 3/16 miles. This year, it will be run at 1 3/8 miles at Del Mar. Fanshawe is not overly concerned about the distance.
“Del Mar’s a pretty sharp track and a mile and three will be similar to a mile and a quarter here, so if we do end up going out there I can’t see it being too much of a problem,” Fanshawe said.
Trainer Aidan O’Brien, who remains winless in the BC Filly and Mare Turf, is planning to run Love and Snowfall against males in Sunday’s Group 1 Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp. Both fillies are proven at 1 1/2 miles, so they could also be deemed possible for the BC Turf.
O’Brien has already stated that Mother Earth is pointing to the BC Filly and Mare Turf, filling in for the ill-fated Santa Barbara, who won two Grade 1s in America this year but tragically passed due to a fractured pelvis. Mother Earth, winner of the Group 1 Prix Rothschild at Deauville in August, is possible to run in this weekend’s Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket.
Teona, the Group 1 Prix Vermeille winner, is tackling males in the Arc de Triomphe. Grand Glory beat Audarya and Thundering Nights in the Group 1 Prix Jean Romanet in France.
Thundering Nights beat Santa Barbara in the Pretty Polly in June, but has finished second in each of her last two starts.
The North American contingent is led by War Like Goddess, who will train up to the Breeders’ Cup following her victory in the Grade 1 Flower Bowl on Sept. 4 at Saratoga, her fourth win from five starts this year.
Saturday, the U.S. contingent should further define itself in the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive at Santa Anita. The field for that race is led by Going to Vegas and Dogtag, the one-two finishers in the John C. Mabee Stakes at Del Mar.
Maryland-based trainer Arnaud Delacour on Wednesday confirmed he shipped Magic Attitude to California for the Rodeo Drive. Magic Attitude won the Sheepshead Bay at Belmont in May, but has caught soft turf in losses in the New York and Diana.
“I just want to test her at the Grade 1 level over firm turf,” Delacour said.
My Sister Nat, runner-up to War Like Goddess in the Glens Falls and Flower Bowl, will try to earn her way to the Breeders’ Cup when she runs in Sunday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Waya Stakes at Belmont Park.