Breeders' Cup Distaff: Pletcher has two favorites in deep group
Quality trumps quantity in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Nov. 5 at Keeneland – seven Grade 1 winners are among eight fillies and mares pre-entered in the 2022 Distaff.
The small, select list of pre-entries is topped by two well-fancied Curlin fillies trained by Todd Pletcher – Nest and Malathaat.
Nest crushed her last three starts to emerge as the nation’s top 3-year-old filly. Malathaat, 4, won both recent starts, including a romp in the Grade 1 Spinster at Keeneland, where she is 3 for 3. Nest is the early 2-1 favorite by Daily Racing Form; Malathaat is 5-2.
Nest and Malathaat will try to give Pletcher his third Distaff victory. His 21 Distaff starters include 2004 winner Ashado and 2015 winner Stopchargingmaria. Yet while the Pletcher pair look formidable, the field is deep.
Chad Brown trains Grade 1 winner Search Results, who finished a half-length behind Malathaat last out and will enter fresh off a 10-week layoff. Brown is seeking his first Distaff victory with his eighth starter. Search Results is the 9-2 third choice by DRF.
Steve Asmussen also trains two top contenders – front-running Gun Runner 3-year-old Society and late-running Curlin 4-year-old Clairiere. Society won the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx Racing last out. Grade 1 winner Clairiere has already defeated Malathaat twice this year. Society and Clairiere are listed at 5-1 and 6-1, respectively, by DRF. Asmussen is 1 for 6 in the Distaff; he won in 2014 with Untapable.
Secret Oath won the Kentucky Oaks in May, but in her last three starts has finished far behind Society and Nest. Secret Oath, sired by Arrogate, is trained by D. Wayne Lukas, whose 27 Distaff starters have produced four wins (Lady’s Secret, Life’s Magic, Sacahuista, and Spain) and eight seconds.
Blue Stripe returns for a second try in the Distaff. A Group 1 winner in South America, she finished seventh last year in her North American debut while making her first start in six months. She improved this season for trainer Marcelo Polanco, with Grade 1 and Grade 2 victories in California.
Awake At Midnyte, the only Distaff pre-entrant without a stakes or two-turn victory, would be the longest shot in the field. She also is pre-entered in the BC Filly and Mare Sprint.
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If all seven Grade 1 winners enter, the Distaff may hinge on likely pacesetter Society, who enters off blowout wins at Charles Town and Parx. Society has won five races and more than $1.1 million from six starts. Her only start beyond 1 1/16 miles was an inconclusive stumbled-at-start fourth-place debacle in the Coaching Club American Oaks behind one-two finishers Nest and Secret Oath.
The Distaff pre-entrants and riders, in order of early odds: Nest, Irad Ortiz Jr.; Malathaat, John Velazquez; Search Results, Flavien Prat; Society, Florent Geroux; Clairiere, Joel Rosario; Secret Oath, Luis Saez; Blue Stripe, Hector Berrios; and Awake At Midnight, Mario Gutierrez.
Velazquez and Geroux have each won the Distaff twice. Velazquez scored with Forever Unbridled in 2017 and Ashado in 2004. Geroux won with Monomoy Girl in 2018 and 2020. None of the other riders have won the Distaff.
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