Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf: QE II could prove more relevant this year

LEXINGTON, Ky. – For a race as prestigious as the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland, its next-race impact on the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf has been negligible. Often, a filly or two per year has ventured on to the Breeders’ Cup, but the group has done little once there.

One Queen Elizabeth II winner, Perfect Sting, won the 2000 BC Filly and Mare Turf the year after she won the 1999 QE II, but her performance in the Breeders’ Cup during the year of her QE II triumph resulted in a sixth-place finish.

In total, 13 fillies have tried the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf the year they raced as 3-year-olds in the QE II, and most finished in the rear of the pack, with Alterite’s third in the 2013 Filly and Mare Turf after a runner-up finish in the QE II being the only on-the-board performance.

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If there is ever a year for a Queen Elizabeth II winner to do well in the Breeders’ Cup, it is this one. The Breeders’ Cup is at Keeneland this year, the same course over which the QE II is run, and the distance of the Oct. 31 Filly and Mare Turf is its shortest ever at 1 3/16 miles, just a sixteenth longer then the QE II.

Saturday’s Queen Elizabeth II Stakes also drew a few fillies with potentially the quality to warrant being in the Breeders’ Cup, most notably the rapidly improving Sentiero Italia, a winner of two consecutive graded stakes in which she ran Beyer Speed Figures in the mid- to upper 90s, numbers that make her competitive with many of the better older U.S. turf mares.

So, it’s possible that with a victory from Sentiero Italia or with a jump-up performance from one of the others, a filly from the Queen Elizabeth II could make a rare Breeders’ Cup impact this year.

Aside from the Queen Elizabeth II and the Oct. 18 E.P. Taylor at Woodbine, the other major preps are finished.

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Stephanie’s Kitten’s victory in the Grade 1 Flower Bowl at Belmont last Saturday puts her on course for the Breeders’ Cup, and two or three who chased her in that race should join her.

Elsewhere, the top three finishers from the Prix de l’Opera at Longchamp this past Sunday are being considered for the Breeders’ Cup, with runner-up Jazzi Top the most likely to come for the race, said Josh Christian, director of racing for the Breeders’ Cup.

The likely favorite for the Filly and Mare Turf remains the European Legatissimo, a filly so strongly fancied by overseas bettors that she has been backed to as short as even-money with British bookmakers.

Stephanie’s Kitten is the shortest price of the top American hopes at around 7-1 odds.