Breeders' Cup Distaff: Paradise Woods, Elate among 3-year-olds entering picture

ARCADIA, Calif. – Here come the 3-year-olds, just in time.

While the 5-year-old mares Stellar Wind and Forever Unbridled remain early favorites for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, the dwindling number of older fillies and mares has opened the door for the next generation.

Paradise Woods and Elate face older runners for the first time Saturday in Grade 1 races at Santa Anita and Belmont, trying to join Champagne Room, It Tiz Well, and Abel Tasman as leading 3-year-old contenders for the $2 million Distaff on Nov. 3 at Del Mar.

“I’ve seen 3-year-old fillies have their best days at the end of the year,” trainer Richard Mandella said at Santa Anita, where Paradise Woods runs Saturday in the Zenyatta Stakes. “I think she’s good enough to try this. I’ll feel better once she’s done it.”

If two misfires are forgiven, and if Paradise Woods runs back to her Santa Anita Oaks romp, she should be tough in the Zenyatta, a Breeders’ Cup Challenge race won by 3-year-olds three times in the past decade. The stats are similar to 3-year-olds overall in the Distaff.

Ten of the 33 Distaffs were won by 3-year-olds, including recent winners Untapable, Beholder, and Royal Delta. Overall, 3-year-olds have won 30 percent (10 of 33) while accounting for 37 percent of the Distaff fields (114 of 306).

Champagne Room, the 2016 BC Juvenile Fillies winner, jumped into the Distaff picture with a solid comeback victory last Sunday in the Remington Park Oaks. Trainer Peter Eurton agrees that Champagne Room must improve on her 92 Beyer Speed Figure to be competitive.

“Obviously, it’s a big challenge, 3-year-olds against older,” Eurton said. “They are just more mature. They’ve been running against faster horses, it takes some getting used to. She possibly could take on the challenge now, whereas maybe not in February, March, April, and May.

“I know we’re up against it, but they mature so much in that small amount of time,” he added.

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Abel Tasman remains the most accomplished 3-year-old filly, having won three Grade 1 races this year, including the Kentucky Oaks. But she lost her final prep last Saturday, a two-length defeat behind It Tiz Well in the Cotillion at Parx Racing.

Abel Tasman ran off when she saw daylight, the second consecutive race in which she made a premature move.

“We got away with it last time,” trainer Bob Baffert said, referring to the Coaching Club American Oaks. Not this time. “When she saw that daylight, adios.”

Although he considered removing blinkers for the Distaff, Baffert has reconsidered.

“I don’t know about that,” he said. “I think she’s just going to be back there, and she’s going to come running.”

Baffert’s other Distaff candidates are Faithfully, who runs in the Zenyatta, and Vale Dori, whose Breeders’ Cup status will be determined in late October. Vale Dori finished a neck behind Stellar Wind in each of her last two starts. Since then, Vale Dori’s work pattern has been intermittent.

“Those two races were pretty tough on her, so I’m just going to play it by ear,” Baffert said this week. He would bring Vale Dori into the Distaff off works. “Yes, she would train into that. She doesn’t need to run [in a prep]. As we get closer to the Breeders’ Cup, the ones that are doing really well will run.”

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Elate, whose trainer is five-time Distaff winner Bill Mott, runs Saturday in the Beldame at Belmont Park. The 1 1/8-mile race is expected to include Eskenformoney, Money’soncharlotte, and Verve’s Tale.

Elate’s victory in the Grade 1 Alabama Stakes on Aug. 19 was validated. Elate defeated It Tiz Well by more than five lengths, and It Tiz Well returned to win the Grade 1 Cotillion by two.

It Tiz Well would have history on her side in the Distaff. Four of the last five Cotillion winners returned to finish first or second in the Distaff, including 2016 Distaff runner-up Songbird.

After Saturday, the final major prep for the BC Distaff is the Grade 1 Spinster Stakes on Oct. 8 at Keeneland. Nominees include Romantic Vision and Blue Prize.