Breeders' Cup Distaff: Idiomatic, Thorpedo Anna tower over rivals
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A high-class older mare seeking her second victory in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff for trainer Brad Cox will battle an outstanding 3-year-old filly making her first start against older for trainer Kenny McPeek.
It’s like 2020 all over again in the BC Distaff, only better.
Idiomatic, the 5-year-old Cox trainee who won the BC Distaff last year, will face Thorpedo Anna, the 3-year-old McPeek trainee with four Grade 1 wins. Idiomatic and Thorpedo Anna top the 12 fillies and mares pre-entered in the $2 million BC Distaff scheduled for Nov. 2 at Del Mar.
Cox and McPeek met four years ago with top contenders in the same race. Cox’s even-money favorite Monomoy Girl, a 6-year-old, won for a second time while McPeek’s 3-year-old Swiss Skydiver finished seventh as the 2-1 second choice.
The odds order for the trainers is the same this year, with less separation. Idiomatic is the 8-5 early favorite by Daily Racing Form; Thorpedo Anna is 2-1. Those prices are likely to drop, because Idiomatic and Thorpedo Anna seemingly tower over the 10 remaining Distaff pre-entrants.
Idiomatic, bred and owned by Juddmonte Farms, has won 12 races, including a recent romp in the Spinster Stakes, her fifth Grade 1. Florent Geroux is her rider. Cox and Geroux each have won the Distaff three times – Monomoy Girl in 2018 and 2020, Idiomatic last year.
Thorpedo Anna, a $40,000 yearling purchase, won her fourth Grade 1 in the Cotillion. McPeek is seeking his first Breeders’ Cup victory; Thorpedo Anna’s jockey, Brian Hernandez Jr., won the 2012 BC Classic with Fort Larned. As for Thorpedo Anna, her best race this year was the one she lost – runner-up to the colt Fierceness in the Travers Stakes while earning a 111 Beyer Speed Figure. Fierceness is among the BC Classic favorites.
Raging Sea, 6-1 third choice on the Distaff early line by DRF, won the Grade 2 Beldame with an 86 Beyer last out. She earned a 97 upsetting Idiomatic two starts back in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign. Raging Sea’s trainer, Chad Brown, is seeking his first Distaff victory with his 11th starter. Raging Sea’s rider, Flavien Prat, seeks his first Distaff with his seventh mount.
Awesome Result, 7 for 7 in Japan, will try to replicate the Distaff feat of Japan shipper Marche Lorraine the last time the Breeders’ Cup was at Del Mar, in 2021. Marche Lorraine paid $101.80; Awesome Result is the early 8-1 fourth choice by DRF.
The early odds for the remaining Distaff pre-entrants are double digits. The 3-year-old filly Candied, third by more than seven lengths to Idiomatic in the Spinster, is 15-1. Honor D Lady, fifth by more than 18 lengths in the Spinster, also is listed at 15-1.
Last-out Grade 2 winners Sugar Fish and Musical Mischief are 20-1, same as last-out Grade 2 runner-up Batacuda. Japan shipper Alice Verite, a turf filly whose first preference is the BC Filly and Mare Turf, is 30-1. Che Evasora and Miss New York are currently 50-1.
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