Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf: Lady Eli looking better than ever

ARCADIA, Calif. – Lady Eli spent the first part of the year getting healthier. She has spent the second half of the year getting faster.

Overshadowed by her battle to overcome laminitis is the fact that Lady Eli has run faster Beyer Speed Figures this year at 4 than she did when she won her first six starts at ages 2 and 3. Lady Eli will have to keep that ascension going when she takes on some of the world’s top turf fillies and mares in Saturday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita.

Lady Eli, who in 2014 won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf here, tops the 13-horse international field of fillies and mares, which includes runners from England, Ireland, France, Japan, Chile, and Peru. The Filly and Mare Turf (race 5) is run at 1 1/4 miles.

Lady Eli, who overcame tendonitis in addition to laminitis, is making just her third start of the year. In her first start off a 420-day layoff, she finished second to Strike Charmer in the Grade 2 Ballston Spa at Saratoga, which was won in stakes-record time. Lady Eli came back to win the Grade 1 Flower Bowl at Belmont Park, earning a career-best 102 Beyer.

“Her numbers are faster than she’s ever run on the sheets I use,” said Chad Brown, who trains Lady Eli and has won the last two runnings of the Filly and Mare Turf with Dayatthespa and Stephanie’s Kitten.

Brown believes Lady Eli’s devastating turn of foot is still as strong as ever and said she should run better on what is expected to be a firm Santa Anita turf course.

“She’s just got an amazing turn of foot; you can still see it,” he said. “Hopefully, that will allow her to accelerate when she needs to.”

Lady Eli, who will be ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., should get a chance to demonstrate her turn of foot Saturday. There appears to be plenty of early pace in the Filly and Mare Turf, with Catch a Glimpse, Avenge, Picture Perfect, and perhaps even Zipessa likely being forwardly placed early. Al’s Gal, the winner of the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor, is another who might be up close.

Brown also will run Sea Calisi, who won the Beverly D. at Arlington in August and then ran third to Lady Eli in the Flower Bowl, her first start in nearly two months.

“I’m confident Sea Calisi is going to run very well regardless of any other horse I have,” Brown said. “Both fillies not only have to run against each other, they have to run against everybody.”

Sentiero Italia set the pace in the Flower Bowl, but that’s because there were no early-speed types in the race. Her connections would rather see her coming from off the pace Saturday.

“We prefer to lay second, third, or fourth,” said trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, who won this race in 2007 with Lahudood. “We went last time, strategy-wise. There wasn’t much pace, so I told him to go. She ran a huge mile and a quarter. We think we have a big chance.”

Trainer Aidan O’Brien has sent over Pretty Perfect and Seventh Heaven from Ireland. Seventh Heaven is the most accomplished of the pair, having won the Irish Oaks and Yorkshire Oaks during the summer. In the Yorkshire Oaks, Seventh Heaven beat the O’Brien-trained Found, who is seeking to win a second straight Breeders’ Cup Turf later on Saturday’s card.

Seventh Heaven is coming off a fifth-place finish in the British Champions Fillies’ and Mares’ Stakes, run over “good” ground at Ascot. It was her first start off a two-month layoff.

“She will love the fast ground, and the flat track will suit her,” O’Brien said. “Ascot was a little bit messy. It maybe just didn’t work out really well for her.”

Pretty Perfect, O’Brien said, runs her best races “when she gets left alone in front,” a scenario that is unlikely to play out Saturday.

Queen’s Trust is just 1 for 7, but trainer Michael Stoute saw fit to ship her here, and he’s won this race twice, with Islington (2003) and Dank (2012).

From Peru comes Ryans Charm, who has won nine of her last 10 starts, though it’s unclear what level of competition she defeated. The Chilean-bred Kitcat was a Group 1 winner in her native land and finished second in a one-mile restricted stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 8. Nuovo Record, who has been racing in Japan and Hong Kong, has won just twice in her last 12 starts.