Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf: Inspiral will likely be back in 2024

ARCADIA, Calif. - Inspiral may have a Breeders’ Cup encore at Del Mar in 2024.

Inspiral capped a brilliant 2023 campaign with her third consecutive Grade 1 or Group 1 win with a remarkable rally in Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita.

Inspiral was not off the track very long before owner Richard Thompson of Cheveley Park Stud of Britain said she will race as a 5-year-old next year. Cheveley Park is one of Britain’s most prominent farms.

For a sport hit with numerous retirements in recent weeks, the news is a boost for the international scene.

“This is the best horse we’ve ever owned,” Thompson said. “To enjoy a horse like this, you don’t get many chances. She could be one of the all-time great mares.”

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Thompson added that his 83-year-old mother, Patricia, has greatly enjoyed watching Inspiral’s career develop since the filly won her debut in the summer of 2021.

Inspiral has won nine races, including six Grade 1 or Group 1 races. She was the European champion 2-year-old filly of 2021 and the champion 3-year-old filly of 2022.

“She could be one of the all-time great mares,” Thompson said. “We wouldn’t necessarily have a horse like this in the near future, Hopefully, we will.”

Inspiral accomplished something new in the Filly and Mare Turf, winning her debut at 1 1/4 miles in her 13th start. The distance was easier to accomplish at Santa Anita than other tracks since the opening furlong of the Filly and Mare Turf is run downhill.

“It was a friendly mile and a quarter,” Thompson said.

Inspiral won the Filly and Mare Turf under jockey Frankie Dettori, who moved the filly from eighth on the backstretch to win by a neck over deep-stretch leader Warm Heart. Dettori has ridden Inspiral in her last 12 starts.

Inspiral was considered for the BC Mile, but the team behind the filly opted for the longer Filly and Mare Turf.

“We ditched the thought of going a mile,” Dettori said. “We thought the mile could be too sharp for her. It was perfect.”

Inspiral was also considered for the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at a mile at Ascot in Britain last month, but did not start when rain left the turf course softer than preferred.

Trainer John Gosden felt a sigh of relief when he watched Inspiral’s rally through the final furlong on Saturday.

“The way she finished and galloped out, she was probably saying the trainer has been running her at the wrong distance,” Gosden said.

Gosden said a major stakes at 1 1/4 miles in Britain, such as the Grade 1 International Stakes at York Racecourse in August, could be on Inspiral’s 2024 calendar.

Until then, Gosden and his team emphasize trying to get along with Inspiral.

“She’s very opinionated and very strong-minded,” he said. “You go with the flow with her. There is no point in getting in an argument with her. She has a very strong will to do what she wants when she wants.

“She’s up for it every day, a superb filly.

"To have her do what she’s done is extremely fulfilling. It’s fair to say if she hadn’t gotten there, she would have been an unlucky loser.”

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