Pulled muscle to keep Monomoy Girl from Breeders' Cup run

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Monomoy Girl, the 3-year-old champion filly of 2018, will not make the Breeders’ Cup because of a minor setback but will race in 2020 as a 5-year-old, according to bloodstock agent Liz Crow, who helps to manage the filly’s ownership group.

Based at Churchill Downs with trainer Brad Cox, Monomoy Girl is getting about 10 days off after suffering a slight pull in a gluteal muscle in her latest workout Saturday.

“Brad noticed it Sunday, and the filly was sent to Rood and Riddle on Monday,” Crow said Thursday from the Keeneland yearling sale. “Dr. [Wes] Sutter went over her head to tail and said nothing is wrong with her, other than the muscle pull. That’s the good news.”

Monomoy Girl won the Breeders’ Cup Distaff last November at Churchill in what remains her most recent race, and Cox was hoping to make a return trip to the Distaff on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita. But that’s out, said Crow, who represents the ownership group of Monomoy Stables, Michael Dubb, the Elkstone Group, and Bethlehem Stables.

“The timing was very tight to make the Breeders’ Cup anyway,” said Crow. “We maybe could’ve pushed on with her – that’s how slight the injury is – but obviously the owners are adamant about doing right by the filly. They’re game, and they all want to run her next year at 5.”

Monomoy Girl, a 4-year-old Kentucky-bred filly by Tapizar, has won 9 of 11 starts and more than $2.9 million, with the Kentucky Oaks and BC Distaff her greatest scores. Crow said the filly “probably won’t even leave training” in the coming weeks but the timetable for a return will be left open.

After rehabbing this spring and early summer following colic surgery in March, Monomoy Girl had breezed four times within the last month at Churchill and was being pointed to a Distaff prep prior to this latest setback.