Fiesolana going in Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf

Fiesolana, cross-entered in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf and the Breeders’ Cup Mile, will run in the Filly and Mare Turf, according to Alan Cooper, racing manager for her owner, the Niarchos family.

The Niarchos family, which also races under the nom de course Flaxman Holdings Corp., still has a starter for the Mile in the French shipper Karakontie, as well as one of the favorites for the Turf, the U.S.-based Main Sequence.

Fiesolana was one of two horses, along with Dayatthespa, cross-entered in the Filly and Mare Turf and the Mile, and with both opting for the Filly and Mare Turf, Sayaad and Tourist should get spots in the overfilled Mile when final entries are taken. The field is capped at 14, and Big Bane Theory will be the first also-eligible if the list of likely runners holds.

Fiesolana, a 5-year-old mare based in Ireland with trainer Willie McCreery, scored her most important win in the Group 1 Matron Stakes over one mile this year, and she’ll be racing beyond 1 1/8 miles in the 1 1/4-mile Filly and Mare Turf for the first time since April 2012, when she finished fourth of six in a listed stakes in France.

Karakontie, a 3-year-old trained by Jonathan Pease and the winner of the Group 1 French 2000 Guineas this year, had a terrible trip when he finished 11th on Nov. 5 in the Prix de la Foret at Longchamp. That was his first start since June, and Cooper said the race was a prep for the BC Mile, to which Karakontie has been pointed for a couple months.