Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf: Graffard sending Gezora after tossing Arc result
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Gezora was 13th in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris on Oct. 5, a loss trainer Francis-Henri Graffard is eager to forget.
“She found herself really far back, which was impossible in the Arc,” he said in a phone interview Wednesday.
Best known for winning the Group 1 French Oaks in June, Gezora’s season is not over. She is scheduled to race outside of Europe for the first time in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Nov. 1 at Del Mar.
“She’s in very good shape,” Graffard said. “She came out of the race really well.”
Gezora, owned by Peter Brant’s White Birch Farm, has won 4 of 9 starts and earned $997,412.
Gezora had a fabulous spring, winning the Group 2 Prix Saint-Alary at 1 1/4 miles at Longchamp in May and the French Oaks at 1 5/16 miles at Chantilly, overcoming traffic more than a quarter-mile from the finish. The French Oaks is formally known as the Prix de Diane and ranks as the longest win for Gezora.
Gezora finished second to Aventure in the Group 1 Prix Vermeille at 1 1/2 miles on Sept. 7 at Longchamp in her debut against older fillies and mares and first start at that distance. Gezora was beaten 10 1/2 lengths by Daryz in the Arc as a 31-1 outsider in a field of 17.
A trip to Del Mar will be Gezora’s first start on firm turf since she finished third in the Group 3 Prix Vanteaux at 1 1/8 miles at Longchamp in April, her debut for Graffard.
The BC Filly and Mare Turf is run at 1 3/8 miles on a smaller turf course circumference than what Gezora has experienced in France.
“I think she will be suited to the California track,” Graffard said. “She adapts to anything. I don’t see it being a problem.”
Mickael Barzalona will have the mount, Graffard said.
Gezora, by the Wootton Bassett stallion Almanzor, rates among Europe’s leading hopes for the Filly and Mare Turf, along with Diamond Rain, who was second in the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes on Aug. 16 at Woodbine; Cinderella’s Dream, who was second in the 2024 BC Filly and Mare Turf and third in her last start in the Group 1 Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket Racecourse in Britain on Oct. 4; and See The Fire, a game second in the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera for fillies and mares on Oct. 5 at Longchamp.
She Feels Pretty, winner of the E.P. Taylor Stakes for her seventh stakes win, leads the United States-based team. Trained by Cherie DeVaux, She Feels Pretty has had four quick half-mile breezes at Keeneland since mid-October, including a clocking in 46.60 seconds on Oct. 3.
Graffard has had five Breeders’ Cup runners, all in the last decade, with his best result a second by Malavath in the Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar in 2021.
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