2021 Breeders' Cup Mile: Brown, Casse mares clash again
The last time the Breeders’ Cup Mile was run in California, a Chad Brown-trained filly beat a Mark Casse-trained filly, and it could happen again Nov. 6 at Del Mar.
Blowout, a 5-year-old mare trained by Brown, and Got Stormy, a 6-year-old mare from Casse’s stable, were among the selected runners in a vastly oversubscribed renewal of the $2 million BC Mile.
It was Got Stormy, in fact, who finished second to the Brown-trained Uni in the 2019 Mile at Santa Anita, but where both those horses came flying from off the pace, Blowout will try to get Brown his second Mile from on or very near the lead.
Blowout went wire to wire last out in the First Lady Stakes, part of the BC Challenge Series, earning a fees-paid entry into any Breeders’ Cup race. Brown and owner Peter Brant chose the Mile over the Filly and Mare Turf, which at 11 furlongs is too far for Blowout. “We got a free roll with her,” said Brown.
Brown and Brant also run Raging Bull, 10th in the 2020 Mile and most recently third in the Woodbine Mile, after which jockey Frankie Dettori told Brown that Raging Bull failed to grip the turf course.
“He didn’t care for the ground up there,” Brown said. “A big portion of the race his wheels were spinning. It’s all about the trip, but if it’s firm ground out there, I think he’s going to run very well.”
There were 24 pre-entrants for a race that can accommodate 14 starters, and the two horses whose connections listed the Mile as second preference, Snapper Sinclair and Channel Cat, aren’t among the horses automatically qualified or selected as participants by Breeders’ Cup.
Order of Australia, the second highest-priced winner of a Breeders’ Cup race when he won the 2020 Mile, was among the pre-entrants but suffered a career-ending injury Oct. 27 morning in Ireland, trainer Aidan O’Brien said on a conference call.
Order of Australia’s defection allows the first horse not selected into the field, Ivar, to get into the Mile. Ivar won the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile in 2020 and was fourth in the 2020 BC Mile but has raced only twice this season, once on May 1, then in the Grade 1 Keeneland Turf Mile on Oct. 9, where he finished a close fourth in a race won by his Paulo Lobo-trained stablemate, In Love. In Love won the Keeneland Turf Mile, which is part of the BC Challenge Series and automatically qualified him for the Mile.
The other American-based horses in the race are Blowout, Casa Creed, Got Stormy, Hit the Road, Mo Forza, Raging Bull, and Smooth Like Strait. Mother Earth and Pearls Galore (two more fillies) come from Ireland, while Godolphin stablemates Master of The Seas and Space Blues ship from England. Space Blues is the 5-2 favorite on the early morning line set by DRF’s Brad Free. The 14th pre-entrant in the main body of the race is Vin de Garde, a Japan-based horse who is winless in three starts this year and never has come close to winning a Grade or Group 1 race.
Space Blues won the Group 1 Prix de la Foret by two lengths, an impressive performance that has thrust him to the forefront of Mile hopefuls. But Pearls Galore, second in the Foret, Mother Earth, and even Master of the Seas could make their presence felt in what looks like an extremely contentious edition.