Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf: Distance change adds a wrinkle

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – More than the host site is changing when the Breeders’ Cup moves to Churchill Downs in early November. Also coming are several changes to race distances, notably in the Nov. 3 Filly and Mare Turf, which goes from last year’s 1 1/8-mile distance at Del Mar to a three-turn, 1 3/8-mile race at Churchill.

This will mark the fourth straight time the race distance has differed from the year before. Originally conceived as a 1 1/4-mile race, the Filly and Mare Turf has regularly bounced around in distance over its 19 runnings, mostly due to course configurations that prevent some host tracks from running turf races at 1 1/4 miles.

The potential field is shaping up somewhat differently from recent years, when the race was run around two turns and at distances ranging from 1 1/8 to 1 1/4 miles. Some middle-distance turf runners who might have run in past years are staying home, but in their place are European raiders and former Europeans with staying pedigrees who are now running in North America.

Among those in the latter camp are divisional leader Sistercharlie, a three-time Grade 1 winner this year after coming to the U.S. in 2017, and Lady Montdore, the Grade 2 Glens Falls winner who is perfect in two starts in the U.S. after beginning her career in France. Both fillies are nominated to the Oct. 7 Flower Bowl at Belmont Park, though only Lady Montdore is considered probable to compete.

Sistercharlie missed some training in early September due to a heel bruise, leading trainer Chad Brown to ponder bypassing the Flower Bowl and training her into the Filly and Mare Turf instead. She is already a Breeders’ Cup qualifier, having won the Beverly D. at Arlington on Aug. 11.

The Flower Bowl, a Grade 1 at 1 1/4 miles that is expected to draw Beverly D. runner-up Fourstar Crook, should provide a class test for Lady Montdore, who has yet to face that level of competition either in the U.S. or abroad.

“Depending on that effort, we’re looking at the Breeders’ Cup,” said trainer Lady Montdore’s trainer, Tom Albertrani.

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The Flower Bowl is one of three Win and You’re In preps for the Filly and Mare Turf over the Oct. 6-7 weekend, with the others being the First Lady at Keeneland and the Prix de l’Opera at Longchamp in France. Also in France on Oct. 7 is the prestigious Arc de Triomphe, from which its female competitors could potentially return in the Filly and Mare Turf.

One Win And You’re In qualifier will be run Saturday, the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive at Santa Anita. The streaking former claimer Vasilika is expected to run after winning six consecutive races, capped by the Grade 2 John C. Mabee on Sept. 1 at Del Mar. Not an original nominee to the Breeders’ Cup, she would need to be nominated for $100,000 to become eligible.

One top-class U.S. turf runner who will not be participating in the Breeders’ Cup is Daddys Lil Darling. Fourth in the Beverly D., she was taken out of training this summer after the death of her owner, Nancy Polk of Normandy Farm, trainer Ken McPeek said.

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