Mopotism needs to bring her best game to Matriarch

DEL MAR, Calif. - Mopotism was fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3, and Sunday’s Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile on turf at Del Mar will offer her little class relief.

The Matriarch Stakes is the leading race on the final day of the track’s autumn meeting and is expected to draw a field befitting its status and prize money.

The list of probable starters includes Daddy Is a Legend, Dona Bruja, Excellent Sunset, Fahan Mura, Insta Erma, Mission Impassible, Quidura, Rymska, Uni, Valadorna and Vasilika. Each has won a stakes this year.

Vasilika will be favored. She won the Grade 2 Goldikova Stakes at Santa Anita on Nov. 4.

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Mopotism, who races for Paul and Zillah Reddam, won the Grade 2 La Canada Stakes at Santa Anita last January.

While many of the runners in the Matriarch are turf specialists, Mopotism is largely untested on the surface. In her only start on turf, Mopotism was last of seven in the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes at 1 1/8 miles at Santa Anita last May.

“The other time we tried grass it didn’t look good,” trainer Doug O’Neill said on Sunday. “She wasn’t right. Her blood was out of whack.”

Mopotism was an 85-1 outsider in the BC Distaff, and finished 4 1/4 lengths behind winner Monomoy Girl, the standout 3-year-old filly in the nation this year.

“I thought she ran a solid race, very creditable, and not too far off the best fillies and mares in the country,” O’Neill said.

For the $300,000 Matriarch Stakes, Mopotism will have a new rider in Geovanni Franco, who replaces an absent Mario Gutierrez. Sunday, Gutierrez is riding Pavel in the Champions Cup in Japan for O’Neill and the Reddams. Pavel was 10th in the BC Classic on Nov. 3.