Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf: Rushing Fall to close out career at distance longer than she has ever raced
Dayatthespa had never run beyond nine furlongs when she stepped into the starting gate for the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at 1 1/4 miles. She won in gate-to-wire fashion.
Bricks and Mortar hadn’t run beyond 1 1/4 miles before he took on 11 opponents in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf at 1 1/2 miles. He beat them all to cap a perfect season that ended with Horse of the Year honors.
Stephanie’s Kitten, dubbed a middle-distance runner in her younger days, was able to twice win the Flower Bowl at 1 1/4 miles before capping her career with a victory in the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf the last time the event was held at Keeneland.
All three were trained by Chad Brown. On Saturday, the Brown-trained Rushing Fall will try to emulate her predecessors when she runs the farthest she’s ever run in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf going 1 3/16 miles at Keeneland.
“I’m hopeful she can follow in the footsteps of some of the mares we’ve had in this race that proved they could run longer distances in their 5- or 6-year-old year than they did when they were younger,” said Brown, a four-time Filly and Mare Turf winner.
Brown will run four in this year’s Filly and Mare Turf. Sistercharlie, who won this race in 2018, her half-sister My Sister Nat, and Nay Lady Nay will join Rushing Fall in the 14-horse field.
Rushing Fall, a 5-year-old daughter of More Than Ready, will be making the final start of her brilliant career in the Filly and Mare Turf. She has won 11 of 14 starts, including six Grade 1 stakes, at least one in four consecutive years. Five of her 11 victories have come at Keeneland, including the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley twice, the Grade 1 First Lady, and the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth.
She is coming off a neck victory in the Grade 1 Diana on Aug. 23 at Saratoga, where she was able to stalk and reel in a stubborn Mean Mary, one of her opponents Saturday.
Helping get her prepared for the Breeders’ Cup is Sistercharlie, a seven-time Grade 1 winner who has not run since finishing third in the Diana. The two have been working together weekly for the last month, and it seems to be bringing out the best in both. Brown believes Sistercharlie is rounding back into form.
“Toss her out at your own risk,” Brown said after her final workout Sunday.
My Sister Nat and Nay Lady Nay were second and third in the Flower Bowl and would likely need to run the race of their lives to pull an upset.
Like Brown, trainer Graham Motion is taking the fresh approach to the Breeders’ Cup with Mean Mary. She had a four-race win streak snapped in the Diana, and Motion didn’t feel it prudent to run her back in a race like the Flower Bowl when this is the race he truly wants to win.
Mean Mary, who will be ridden by Luis Saez, will likely set the pace unless someone else is more ambitious.
“I think if somebody else went she’d be happy to settle off them,” Motion said. “She’s not rank or anything like that. She just has a really high galloping speed and seems to be able to keep that up.”
Motion actually would have preferred this race to be 1 1/4 miles.
Civil Union has been perfectly managed by trainer Shug McGaughey. She won an allowance in June, a listed stakes in July, the Grade 2 Glens Falls on Sept. 5 at Saratoga, and the Grade 1 Flower Bowl on Oct. 10 at Belmont.
In the Flower Bowl, Civil Union showed the ability to come from farther off the pace than she had in her three previous races and is dangerous at a price under Joel Rosario.
Starship Jubilee opted for this race over the Mile. She makes the 40th start of her career and has won seven of her last nine starts, including the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile against males. She’s also won graded stakes this year at Gulfstream, Tampa Bay Downs, and Saratoga.
The remainder of the U.S. contingent includes Harvey’s Lil Goil, winner of the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland, and Mucho Unusual and Lady Prancealot, the first- and third-place finishers in the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive at Santa Anita.
Audarya, Cayenne Pepper, Peaceful, and Terebellum comprise the European contingent.
Audarya, the first Breeders’ Cup starter for trainer James Fanshawe, won the Group 1 Prix Jean Romanet at 1 1/4 miles in August. She was beaten just a length over heavy ground when third to Tarnawa in the Prix de l’Opera on Oct. 4. Tarnawa opted to take on males in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.
“She’s gotten stronger this year, she’s definitely improved going the extra distance but she might have improved anyway,” Fanshawe said. “The turns are going to be different than what she’s used to, the turns are much tighter.”
Ioritz Mendizabal was scheduled to ride Audarya, but he tested positive for COVID-19 and can’t travel. Pierre-Charles Boudot replaces him.
Aidan O’Brien, still seeking his first win in the Filly and Mare Turf, sends out the 3-year-old filly Peaceful. Winner of the Irish 1000 Guineas in June, Peaceful is coming off a last-place finish in the Group 1 Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket.
“The ground was very bad in Newmarket,” O’Brien said. “Probably the worst ground that we’ve seen in Newmarket for a long time, very deep, and we just felt that it was just too deep for her.”
Trainer John Gosden said he will be hoping for good-to-firm ground for Terebellum, who finished fifth in the Sun Chariot Stakes. She was only beaten a head by Circus Maximus in the Grade 1 Queen Anne at Royal Ascot.
Cayenne Pepper has finished second to the likes of Tarnawa and Magical, both of whom are running in the Turf. She is coming off a Group 1 victory at The Curragh for trainer Jessica Harrington.
Cayenne Pepper will have to overcome post 14.