Breeders' Cup Turf: Grand Sonata eyes first Grade 1 win
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Grand Sonata will join a rare group if he records a surprise win in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 2 at Del Mar.
In the last decade, two winners of the BC Turf have won their first Grade 1 or Group 1 race in the richest grass race in the United States – Talismanic in 2017 and Yibir in 2021. They both won the BC Turf at Del Mar.
Grand Sonata, trained by Todd Pletcher for Whisper Hill Farm, is rated as a respected American contender for the BC Turf at 1 1/2 miles. A 5-year-old, Grand Sonata is in the midst of his best season, highlighted by a win in the Grade 2 Kentucky Turf Cup at Kentucky Downs at 1 1/2 miles on Sept. 7. Grand Sonata rallied from sixth in a field of nine to win the $2 million race by a half-length.
The race came just two weeks after Grand Sonata finished a disappointing fifth by nine lengths in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on Aug. 24 at Saratoga.
“I don’t think he cared for the ground the day of the Sword Dancer,” Pletcher said earlier this week. “We decided to take a shot in two weeks, and it worked out.”
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Grand Sonata won his third stakes in the Kentucky Turf Cup. He won two stakes for 3-year-olds on turf at Gulfstream Park in early 2022.
Despite the recent win, Grand Sonata will be a longshot in the BC Turf, a race led by Rebel’s Romance, winner of the race in 2022, and Far Bridge, who won the Sword Dancer and the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic last Saturday at Aqueduct.
Aside from Rebel’s Romance, who is trained in England by Charlie Appleby, the prominent foreign runners are expected to include Los Angeles, the winner of the Irish Derby who is scheduled to start in Sunday’s Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris; and the Japan-based Shahryar, who was third in the 2023 BC Turf at Santa Anita.
Grand Sonata has won 5 of 23 starts and earned $2,045,235. He struggled last year, winning once in five starts in an allowance race at Saratoga, but has been in better form this year.
Prior to the loss in the Sword Dancer, Grand Sonata was beaten a nose when second in the Grade 2 United Nations Stakes, a $624,000 race at 1 3/8 miles on turf at Monmouth Park in July.
“He’s been a little bit unlucky in his career,” Pletcher said. “He’s a terrific horse to train. He always looks well and he takes his races really good.”
Later this month, Grand Sonata will be sent to the West Coast for the most difficult race of his career.
“We know it will be tough competition with the imports and such,” Pletcher said. “I think he’ll like the firm ground.”
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