LEXINGTON, Ky. – Chad Brown set records by winning 4 of 7 runnings of the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf from 2012-18, but it has now been four years since Sistercharlie became the most recent horse to win it for the champion trainer. In the meantime, foreign-based runners have dominated the Grade 1 BC Filly and Mare Turf while the Americans watched their connections celebrate afterward. Those battle lines are once again clearly drawn for the $2 million race – Nashwa and Above the Curve will lead a European contingent of five 3-year-old fillies who will face five fillies and mares from America and two from Canada in a fascinating 24th running of a race that often decides year-end divisional honors. Brown trains three of the American runners, although, ironically enough, all of them were bred in Europe. The most highly regarded of his trio is In Italian, a English-bred 4-year-old who will be stretching out to 1 3/16 miles after leading throughout four Saturdays ago in the Grade 1 First Lady going a mile on the Keeneland turf. “I think she stacks up favorably with the Euros,” Brown said. “There are a couple nice ones with the right connections and they have good form. My fillies have their work cut out for them, for sure.” :: BREEDERS’ CUP 2022: See DRF’s special section with top contenders, odds, comments, news, and more for each division In Italian will have Joel Rosario back aboard when speeding off from post 11. She might well attempt to do what Brown’s late mentor Bobby Frankel accomplished 17 years ago when Intercontinental went wire to wire in the Filly and Mare Turf at Belmont Park off a front-running romp in the First Lady (then known as the WinStar Galaxy). As the 7-2 second choice on the morning line in this race, the main questions are whether Rosario will be able to steal off comfortably enough and will the filly be able to last the added distance, regardless of pressure applied. “She’s been moving super and has been a really consistent horse all year,” Brown said. “I’ve purposely kept her fresh, so I think she can handle the shorter break coming into this.” The other Brown runners are Rougir and Virginia Joy, both of them last-out winners of major events. Rougir (post 9, Flavien Prat) is a French-bred 4-year-old who snapped a three-race slump by flying late to capture the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor at Woodbine. Virginia Joy (post 10, Irad Ortiz Jr.) is a German-bred 5-year-old who upset heavily favored War Like Goddess in the Grade 2 Flower Bowl at Saratoga by taking full advantage of a lack of pace. All three of the Brown horses will face a more daunting assignment Saturday. Nashwa and Above the Curve were the respective two-three finishers behind 41-1 winner Place du Carrousel in the Oct. 2 Prix de l’Opera at Longchamp, a Group 1 race that stacks up as the key barometer toward the Europeans’ overall chances. Nashwa is the 5-2 favorite on the Keeneland line, and Above the Curve is the 9-2 third choice. :: Breeders' Cup Friday and Saturday Past Performances are available now! Save up to 36% on BC essentials with a DRF Package!  Nashwa (post 3, Hollie Doyle), bred in England and based there with John and Thady Gosden, was beaten less than a length when second as the favorite in the Prix de l’Opera. Before that, the daughter of Frankel won the Group 1 Prix de Diane in France in June and the Group 1 Nassau in England in late July while facing older horses for the first time, marking a swift rise into the European elite. Doyle will be trying to become just the third woman to ride a Breeders’ Cup winner, following Julie Krone (2003 Juvenile Fillies) and Rosie Napravnik (2012 Juvenile and 2014 Distaff). Above the Curve (post 4, John Velazquez) is trained by Joseph O’Brien, whose lone prior BC victory as a trainer came in the Filly and Mare Turf three years ago at Santa Anita with 13-1 shot Iridessa. The Kentucky-bred daughter of American Pharoah also has made a rapid ascent in a relatively short space for the Coolmore group, winning the Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary in France and the Group 2 Blandford in Ireland prior to the Prix de l’Opera. O’Brien, of course, is a former jockey best known on this continent for piloting St Nicholas Abbey to victory in the 2011 BC Turf at Churchill Downs. O’Brien’s iconic father, Aidan, also is represented here by a couple of Coolmore fillies, Tuesday (post 5, Ryan Moore) and Toy (post 7, Wayne Lordan). Tuesday, the Epsom Oaks winner in June, seems to stand a decent chance at a mild upset, while Toy is in for a major class test and is sure to be dismissed at longer odds. :: Bet the Breeders' Cup with a $200 First Deposit Match and FREE Formulator PPs. Join DRF Bets. Mise En Scene (post 6, Cieren Fallon) is a longshot to round out the Euro cast as a Group 3 winner at 2. She’s represented here by trainer James Ferguson but will be turned over afterward to Kentucky-based Brendan Walsh. Walsh has one of the longer shots in here in the steady but unspectacular Family Way (post 8, Tyler Gaffalione), a last-out runner-up in the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive on the Santa Anita turf behind Going to Vegas. “She’s never been far away in these big races,” Walsh said. “We think she deserves to take her chance here.” Going to Vegas (post 2, Umberto Rispoli) has been quite the overachiever, racking up a bankroll of nearly $1 million after regularly competing in the claiming ranks earlier in her career. Down from Canada, one of the dark horses in the field, Moira (post 12, Frankie Dettori), “seems very comfortable since shipping in” early this week, said her trainer, Kevin Attard. “Post 12 should give us a good view of how the race unfolds. Hopefully, Frankie can work out a good trip from there.” Moira, a 3-year-old Ontario-bred, already has cemented her legacy in her home country as a seven-length winner of the prestigious Queen’s Plate in August. The Ghostzapper filly was a tough-trip second behind Rougir before being disqualified to eighth for interference in the E.P. Taylor in her lone subsequent try. :: Get access to Breeders' Cup Clocker Reports with our special VIP Package and save off the retail price. Her Woodbine cohort, Lady Speightspeare (post 1, Luis Saez) looks like a potential pace threat to In Italian but would need to summon up an all-time best to be around at the end. The Filly and Mare Turf is set for 1:50 p.m. Eastern as the sixth of 12 Saturday races. Its distance undergoes necessary changes according to the circumference of the host track, having been run at four different distances since it was inaugurated in 1999 at Gulfstream Park. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.