2021 Breeders' Cup Turf: Europeans will be difficult to deny
The Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic on Oct. 9 at Belmont Park will help determine some of the domestic hopes for the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 6 at Del Mar.
The home team could do with a boost in membership.
With five weeks to the Breeders’ Cup, the international candidates are a much stronger group, a roster that will be better known after Sunday’s Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris. The Arc is Europe’s richest race, with a purse of $5.8 million. The BC Turf is worth $4 million.
Tarnawa, winner of the 2020 BC Turf at Keeneland, is the early favorite to win the Arc in her third start of the year, a season that seems geared toward autumn races in France and Southern California.
The winner of the Arc receives a fees-paid berth to the BC Turf, the last automatic bid in the Breeders’ Cup’s international qualifying series. Love, who earned a fees-paid berth to the BC Turf with a win in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot in England in June, also is an Arc runner who could start at Del Mar.
The possible BC Turf team for Godolphin has depth, including Adayar, Hurricane Lane, Walton Street, and Yibir.
Adayar and Hurricane Lane are scheduled to run in the Arc. Adayar, who won the English Derby in June was supplemented to the Arc on Wednesday for $139,200. He earned a fees-paid berth to the BC Turf with a win in the Group 1 King George and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot in July. Hurricane Lane won his third consecutive Group 1 races in the St. Leger Stakes at Doncaster Racecourse in England on Sept. 11.
On Sept. 18, Godolphin won two Grade 1 races in North America with BC Turf prospects – the $600,000 Canadian International at Woodbine with Walton Street and the $1 million Jockey Club Derby with Yibir. Both have since been flown back to England.
The $500,000 Hirsch is run at 1 1/2 miles, the same distance as the BC Turf. The list of probable starters is led by Gufo, who had an outstanding summer in New York, winning twice at 1 1/2 miles on turf in the Grand Couturier Stakes on July 5 at Belmont Park and the Grade 1 Sword Dancer Stakes on Aug. 28 at Saratoga.
Wednesday, trainer Christophe Clement emphasized that Gufo’s participation in the BC Turf depends on his performance in the Hirsch. The race may include the veteran Arklow, who worked Monday at Belmont Park, and the Aidan O’Brien-trained Japan, a six-time stakes winner who was a game second in the Sword Dancer in his American debut.
Arklow, 7, has appeared in the last three runnings of the BC Turf, with his best result a fourth in 2018 at Churchill Downs.
The American-based runners Astronaut and Imperador will not race again until the BC Turf after surprising wins in recent qualifying races.
Astronaut, trained in California by John Shirreffs, won the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap at 1 3/8 miles on turf on Aug. 21 for his first stakes win. Imperador, a two-time Group 1 winner in Argentina in 2019 and 2020, won the Grade 2 Kentucky Turf Cup at 1 1/2 miles on Sept. 11, finishing a neck in front of 2-1 favorite Arklow.