2021 Breeders' Cup: Number of international entrants a BC record
DEL MAR, CA. - The international quarantine barn for overseas horses traveling to Del Mar for the Nov. 5-6 Breeders' Cup races hummed with activity Saturday morning. And well it should have. By Saturday night, 44 international shippers, a record number for the Breeders’ Cup, will have arrived in California.
That’s just the horses. All the humans that come with them – grooms, riders, assistant trainers, and so on – must be licensed by the California Horse Racing Board and accommodated for their stay. The logistics are daunting – and so might be the foreign influence on the races at Del Mar this Friday and Saturday.
Twenty-two Breeders’ Cup horses (three more are here for other races next weekend) arrived Friday at Del Mar from England. Among them were Tarnawa, who will try to win the BC Turf for the second year in a row; Audarya, who goes for her second straight Filly and Mare Turf; and Glass Slippers, winner of the 2020 Turf Sprint. These horses are all bedded down and getting comfortable on the Del Mar backstretch, but won’t clear United States Department of Agriculture quarantine until Sunday afternoon, meaning they can’t train until Monday morning.
Saturday’s arrivals come on two flights, one from England carrying Dubai-owned horses, mainly Godolphin runners for trainer Charlie Appleby such as early Mile favorite Space Blues, but also Turf hopeful Teona for trainer Roger Varian. The other flight transports the Aidan O’Brien-trained contingent from Ireland.
Seven O’Brien horses are shipping, but uncertainty remains among this group. Glounthaune runs in the Juvenile Turf, and Mother Earth in the Mile (that we know), but Love was pre-entered in the Turf and the Filly and Mare Turf, and O’Brien sent four other horses pre-entered in the Turf.
Love was O’Brien’s only horse for the Turf that was assured a spot in the field when pre-entries were released earlier this week, but O’Brien strongly suggested she could run instead in the Filly and Mare Turf. Imperador already has been withdrawn from the roster of prospective Turf starters, which lets the O’Brien-trained Japan, the first alternate, into the race. If Love goes for the Filly and Mare Turf, then the Chad Brown-trained Tribhuvan gets into the Turf, but O’Brien also is sending Turf pre-entrants Broome, Bolshoi Ballet, and Mogul, who, assuming Love comes out, would be first, second, and fifth alternates to make the Turf field.
The horses arriving Saturday will clear quarantine Monday, presuming all goes to plan, and will be allowed to train Tuesday.
Among seven Japanese shippers Loves Only You, Marche Lorraine, and Vin De Garde have been stabled at Del Mar since Oct. 22. Loves Only You, a major player in the Filly and Mare Turf, worked on dirt Oct. 29, as did Marche Lorraine, a longshot in the Distaff. Vin de Garde, a long price for the Mile, galloped on dirt Saturday and could have a turf breeze Sunday morning when the course is opened for training.
The four other Japanese horses – Matera Sky for the Sprint, Jasper Great for the Juvenile, and Dirt Mile hopes Jasper Prince and Pingxiang – remain under quarantine at Los Angeles International Airport. All being well, they’ll be permitted to ship to Del Mar early Monday morning, at which point the international gang will all be here.