Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf: Brown quintet vs. the Euros

If Europeans are to score their third straight victory in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3, they are going to have to outrun as many as five Chad Brown-trained horses to do it.

Brown, the Eclipse Award-winning trainer in North America the past two years, pre-entered Sistercharlie, Fourstar Crook, A Raving Beauty, Santa Monica and Thais, representing one-third of the race’s 15 pre-entries announced by the Breeders’ Cup on Wednesday. Brown’s group falls just shy of the six Europeans pre-entered, a group led by Wild Illusion and Magic Wand, the one-two finishers from the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera at Longchamp on Oct. 7.

Three of Brown’s pre-entries for the Filly and Mare Turf, a Grade 1 race with a $2 million purse, ran their way into the race with Breeders’ Cup Challenge victories. Sistercharlie won the Beverly D. on Aug. 11 at Arlington, Fourstar Crook took the Flower Bowl at Belmont on Oct. 7, and A Raving Beauty captured the one-mile First Lady at Keeneland on Oct. 6. Sistercharlie and Fourstar Crook are likely to be among the race favorites.

Thais, unraced since a third in the Beverly D., looms a longshot, while Santa Monica and A Raving Beauty are expected to be middle-priced runners.

Magic Wand is one of three fillies whom Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien pre-entered, along with Athena and Magical,who also was pre-entered in the Turf and has that race as her first preference.

:: BREEDERS’ CUP 2018: Pre-entries, odds, comments, and more

If Magical goes in the Turf, that would allow an opening for the Filly and Mare Turf’s lone alternate, Fuhriously Kissed. She was pre-entered in the Distaff as second preference, and that race did not oversubscribe.

Athena possesses experience with American racing, having won the Belmont Oaks on July 7 before a sixth in the Beverly D. She then returned to Europe, running fourth in the Irish Champion Stakes and eighth in the Prix de l’Opera.

Besides Brown, just four other American trainers pre-entered horses: Mike McCarthy, who has Rodeo Drive runner-up Paved; Joe Sharp, who trains Mom’s On Strike; Todd Pletcher, who has taken over the training of Peruvian import Smart Choice, a BC Challenge race qualifier; and Anthony Quartarolo, who trains Fuhriously Kissed.

Completing the pre-entries are Europeans Eziyra and Princess Yaiza – two stayers well suited to the 1 3/8-mile distance of the Filly and Mare Turf this year. Not since 2011, when Churchill Downs last hosted the Breeders’ Cup, has it been contested going this lengthy a distance.

Typically a 1 1/4-mile race, the Filly and Mare Turf sees regular distance adjustments depending on the host track’s course configuration. Churchill Downs does not run 1 1/4-mile turf races because to do so would require the races to start on a turn.

:: Breeders’ Cup Challenge: Results, replays, charts, and more

:: Breeders' Cup PP packages: Get PPs, betting strategies, DRF+ Pro access, and more