Breeders' Cup Distaff to be battle of champions

ARCADIA, Calif. – Breeders’ Cup history will be made before the extraordinarily deep Distaff field even crosses the Santa Anita finish line on Friday, Nov. 4.

Three Eclipse Award winners from 2015, each in top form, are aiming for the Distaff – Songbird, Beholder, and Stellar Wind. If all three start, it will be the first time in the 33-year history of the Breeders’ Cup that the Distaff field includes more than two current champions.

The undefeated Songbird, Daily Racing Form’s early Distaff favorite, was named champion 2-year-old filly last year. Beholder, DRF’s second choice, won her third Eclipse when voted champion older female last year. Stellar Wind was the top 3-year-old filly.

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The West Coast-based trio tops a strong field of Grade 1 winners aiming for the $2 million Distaff, including East Coast-based Cavorting, Curalina, and Cathryn Sophia; Midwest-based Forever Unbridled; and Group 1 Argentina invader Corona Del Inca. The 2016 Distaff might be the best ever.

Beholder will try to win her fourth consecutive Zenyatta Stakes on Oct. 1 at Santa Anita. The Zenyatta, for fillies and mares, represents a class drop for Beholder, a runner-up against males in the Pacific Classic last out.

One year ago, Beholder won the Pacific Classic by more than eight lengths and was targeting the BC Classic at Keeneland before she got sick and was sidelined. This year, Beholder was no match in the Pacific Classic for California Chrome, who beat her by five lengths.

Immediately afterward, Beholder’s trainer, Richard Mandella, revised the year-end goal.

“Once that horse won like that, we kind of lowered our expectations,” Mandella said.

The bar is still high for Beholder, who will try to become the first horse to win three Breeders’ Cup races on dirt, having won the 2012 Juvenile Fillies and the 2013 Distaff at Santa Anita. Goldikova won three BC Miles on turf from 2008 to 2010.

Beholder’s rivals in the Zenyatta will include Stellar Wind, who knocked off Beholder in the Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes in her most recent start July 30 at Del Mar. The runner-up in the 2015 BC Distaff, Stellar Wind was raced sparingly this year by trainer John Sadler, with the intention of having her at peak this fall. The Zenyatta will be her third start of the season.

Tara’s Tango, a Grade 1 route winner at Santa Anita, also is targeting the Zenyatta. Jerry Hollendorfer trains Tara’s Tango for Stonestreet Farm. Her Breeders’ Cup objective will be determined after the Zenyatta, but with the Hollendorfer-trained Songbird and Stonestreet-owned Cavorting among the favorites for the Distaff, Tara’s Tango could be redirected to the BC Filly and Mare Sprint.

As for the undefeated Songbird, like Beholder, she will stay with fillies and mares. During a conference call this week, Hollendorfer said, “The Classic would be out of the question.”

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Songbird runs Saturday at Parx in the Grade 1 Cotillion Stakes for 3-year-old fillies, a $1 million race that produced Distaff winners Untapable (2014) and Ashado (2004).

Songbird’s rivals in the Cotillion include Cathryn Sophia, who won the Kentucky Oaks. Songbird missed the Oaks due to illness. Kentucky Oaks runner-up Land Over Sea also was entered in the Cotillion. Both Cathryn Sophia and Land Over Sea are Distaff candidates, pending performances in the Cotillion.

Cavorting, whose three straight wins include the Grade 1 Personal Ensign at Saratoga in her most recent start Aug. 27, is expected to train up to the Distaff. Kiaran McLaughlin trains Cavorting, a winner of two BC Challenge races this year – the Personal Ensign and the Ogden Phipps at Belmont Park.

Curalina, third last year in the Distaff and the runner-up in the Personal Ensign, also is likely to train into the Distaff, according to trainer Todd Pletcher. Pletcher won the 2015 Distaff with Stopchargingmaria, who had a similar two-month break entering the race.

Corona Del Inca will enter the Distaff with the longest layoff, six months. A 5-year-old mare bred and raced in Argentina, she won the season’s first BC Challenge for the Distaff – a Group 1 in Argentina on May 1 – and has not raced since. Corona Del Inca arrived in the U.S. in July and commenced workouts this month at Santa Anita.

Corona Del Inca has had two half-mile works, Sept. 11 and 17. She is trained by Guillermo Frankel, who won the 2014 BC Marathon at Santa Anita with Argentina shipper Calidoscopio, a 17-1 outsider.

Beyond the Zenyatta and Cotillion, upcoming Grade 1 races in Kentucky and New York could produce marginal Distaff starters. The Beldame on Oct. 1 at Belmont is likely to include Going for Broke, Off the Tracks, Paola Queen, Penwith, and Tiger Ride.

The Spinster on Oct. 9 at Keeneland is under consideration for Apple Blossom winner Forever Unbridled, though trainer Dallas Stewart might simply train her into the Distaff. The Spinster has produced 10 Distaff winners, more than any other race, but has not produced a Distaff winner since Pleasant Home in 2005.

– additional reporting by David Grening

Clarification: An earlier version of this story stated that this year's running of the Breeders' Cup Distaff could be the first one with three champions. In fact, it would be the first running with three current champions.