Breeders’ Cup Turf: The Fugue seeks win against males as the favorite

ARCADIA, Calif. – A year is a long time to wait for a shot at redemption.

In November 2012, The Fugue finished a troubled third as the 8-5 favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita. She was stuck in traffic at a pivotal point in early stretch.

This year, expectations are higher. The Fugue races against males in Saturday’s $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf over 1 1/2 miles. The lone female in the race, she will be favored and is capable of winning, trainer John Gosden said.

“She was unlucky last year,” Gosden said. “You have to come back and hope things go better.”

Facing males is not an issue.

“We’re not afraid to do that with a good filly,” Gosden said.[bc_video_id:308864:]

Owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Watership Down Stud, The Fugue will be ridden by William Buick, who has been aboard for most of her 12 starts. The Fugue is one of two European-based runners in the BC Turf, which drew a solid field of American-based horses.

[BREEDERS’ CUP 2013: Fields with DRF odds and comments]

Little Mike and Point of Entry, first and second in the 2012 BC Turf, are part of the field, along with Irish Group 1 winner Magician; 2013 Grade 1 winners Big Blue Kitten and Real Solution; 2013 Grade 2 winners Indy Point, Skyring, Tale of a Champion, Twilight Eclipse, and Vagabond Shoes; and minor stakes winner Teaks North.

The Fugue beat males in the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown, Ireland, on Sept. 7. She was considered for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris in early October, but did not start because of soft turf. That made the BC Turf a priority.

“She’s a filly in good form,” Gosden said. “She comes here fresh. She hasn’t had a hard race in testing conditions.”

Little Mike beat Big Blue Kitten by a nose in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park on Sept. 28, the first win for Little Mike since the 2012 BC Turf. Little Mike was 7-1 in the Hirsch and will be a similar price Saturday.

Owned by Priscilla Vaccarezza and trained by Dale Romans, Little Mike has been based at Santa Anita since mid-October.

“If we can win it, it would be a huge accomplishment,” said Carlo Vaccarezza, Priscilla’s husband and the breeder of Little Mike. “This is the best I’ve seen Little Mike.”

Big Blue Kitten and Real Solution are owned by breeders Ken and Sarah Ramsey and trained by Chad Brown. Earlier this year, Big Blue Kitten won Grade 1 races in the United Nations at Monmouth Park and the Sword Dancer at Saratoga. Real Solution was second in the Grade 1 Arlington Million in August, but promoted to first when The Apache was disqualified for causing interference in the stretch.

Choosing between them is difficult, Brown said earlier this week.

“It’s a tough call,” he said. “Big Blue Kitten is proven at a mile and a half and on firm ground. When you watch them train and look at them, Real Solution is a bigger and stronger horse. It was a strong race when he was second in the Arlington Million. The distance is a question.”

Point of Entry was a fast-closing second in the 2012 BC Turf, racing on the inside to the stretch before moving out. He finished a half-length behind Little Mike.

“He deserves to win a race like that after what happened here last year,” trainer Shug McGaughey said.

Point of Entry has not raced since winning the Grade 1 Manhattan at Belmont on June 8, emerging from that race with a leg injury. He resumed serious training in late August.

“Every work he’s gotten better and better,” McGaughey said. “All indications are he’ll run a good one. I think he’s a very good horse, as good as I’ve had.”

Indy Point, who won the 2012 Argentine Derby, won the John Henry Turf Championship over 1 1/4 miles here Sept. 29. Trained by Richard Mandella, Indy Point starts over 1 1/2 miles on turf for the first time in his U.S. career.

“The way he ran the other day, I don’t think it will be a problem,” Mandella said.

Mandella and Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien shared the 2003 BC Turf when Mandella’s Johar and O’Brien’s High Chaparral finished in a dead heat. This year, O’Brien runs Magician, unraced since finishing last of nine in the St. James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot in June.

O’Brien said Wednesday that Magician will thrive on Santa Anita’s firm turf, and he is hoping the surface helps the 3-year-old handle a new distance.

“He wants firm ground,” O’Brien said. “It’s the first time at a mile and half, and we’ll learn a lot.”