Breeders' Cup Turf: Field still to be sorted out, with Hirsch, Arc to decide some runners

Four weeks out and it remains an open question who runs in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Turf, but we do know the race will be missing a historical fixture. Rebel’s Romance won the Turf in 2022 at Keeneland, won it in 2024 at Del Mar, and finished second in last year’s renewal, but was retired over the summer.

Rebel’s Romance had a potential heir apparent, his Charlie Appleby-trained stablemate El Cordobes, an improving 4-year-old at the time who finished a closing third, three-quarters of a length behind Rebel’s Romance, in last year’s BC Turf. El Cordobes has not raced since February but is scheduled to try and punch his ticket to the Turf on – strangely – a Thursday at Belmont Park.

The Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, a key American prep, was scheduled for Sept. 26 before the New York Racing Association owing to bad weather pre-emptively canceled last weekend’s cards and rescheduled major Saturday stakes for Oct. 1.

A few days shouldn’t matter much to El Cordobes, who returns from a reportedly intentional extended layoff. A gelding, El Cordobes last started 7 1/2 months ago in Qatar, and Appleby said connections decided to eschew a summer campaign to focus on this fall and winter.

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El Cordobes will face six foes in the 1 1/2-mile Joe Hirsch, among them two other overseas-based runners, Pride of Arras, who makes his North American debut, and Fort George, who has raced twice in America this year, most recently a well-beaten third Sept. 5 in the Kentucky Turf Cup at Kentucky Downs. If he’s a BC Turf hope, that makes the two who solidly defeated him last out, Tiffany and Ethical Diamond, major players.

Tiffany, who won an overdue first Group 1 in Germany before winning the Kentucky Turf Cup, is an intended BC Turf runner, as is Ethical Diamond, who upset Rebel’s Romance in last year’s edition. Trainer Willie Mullins kept Ethical Diamond fresh through the first part of the summer, aiming for rich American prizes at Kentucky Downs and Keeneland.

Sunday’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe will almost certainly yield BC Turf participants. Horses still in the Arc as of Wednesday (the final field is drawn Thursday) with BC Turf designs include Bay City Roller, winner of the Group 1 Coronation Cup in June; Irish Derby winner Benvenuto Cellini; and Minnie Hauk, sixth as the 3-2 favorite in the 2025 Turf and, frankly, disappointing so far this year.

Ombudsman is a Breeders’ Cup Challenge winner who would be among the favorites if he traveled to Keeneland, but he first runs in the Champion Stakes at Ascot, a 1 1/4-mile race that falls more naturally into Ombudsman’s ideal distance range than the 1 1/2-mile Turf.

Survie, who upset American males in the Grade 1 Christophe Clement, ran terribly Sept. 6 in the Prix Vermeille but still could return from England for the Turf. Two other Europeans, Ancient Egypt and Purview, run Saturday at Woodbine in the Canadian International, their connections also eyeing a Breeders’ Cup start.

Burnham Square flopped in the Kentucky Turf Cup but remains a leading American hope.

California-based horses Atitlan and Gold Phoenix have the BC Turf as a target, as does Test Score, who shipped from Maryland and won the Del Mar Handicap on Aug. 29.

The Chilean horse Eccentric, another Breeders’ Cup Challenge winner, is training at Keeneland with Wesley Ward toward a Turf start, while Japan-based 8-year-old Deep Monster is expected for the race.

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