Rare meeting of Kentucky Oaks winners in Breeders' Cup Distaff

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Abel Tasman and Monomoy Girl have already provided their connections with one-in-a-lifetime moments at Churchill Downs by winning the Kentucky Oaks. On Saturday, they’ll try to make those memories twice in a lifetime.

The fillies, who have shared the same race program twice this year, will share the same starting gate in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff in a rare meeting of Kentucky Oaks winners.

“I am so proud of her,” trainer Bob Baffert has said of Abel Tasman. “She’s one of my favorite all-time horses.”

While Abel Tasman was the third Oaks winner for Hall of Famer Baffert and could give him his 15th Breeders’ Cup victory, Monomoy Girl is the breakthrough horse for trainer Brad Cox, as the first Grade 1 winner for the Louisville, Ky., native.

“She hasn’t let us down,” an emotional Cox said after the Oaks. “She’s an unbelievable filly that . . . she’s an unbelievably talented filly. I’m very proud of her.”

This will be the fourth meeting of Kentucky Oaks winners in the 35-year history of the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Princess Rooney won the 1983 Kentucky Oaks and came back to win the inaugural Distaff in 1984 at Hollywood Park. That year’s Oaks winner, Lucky Lucky Lucky, checked in sixth.

Goodbye Halo won the 1988 Kentucky Oaks and finished third in the Distaff later that year at Churchill Downs behind unbeaten champion Personal Ensign and Kentucky Derby winner Winning Colors. Goodbye Halo ran sixth in the 1989 Distaff at Gulfstream Park behind that year’s Oaks winner, Open Mind, who was third. Most recently, Keeper Hill, winner of the 1998 Oaks, finished third in the 1998 Distaff and fourth in the 1999 Distaff, with fellow Oaks heroine Silverbulletday sixth in 1999.

Abel Tasman was second last year, beaten a half-length by Forever Unbridled. Oaks winners have a record of 22-3-4-4 in the Distaff. Along with Princess Rooney, the champion older female of 1984, Oaks winners Ashado (2004) and Untapable (2014) won the Distaff, both during their 3-year-old championship seasons. Ashado came back to run third in the 2005 edition.

Led by Ashado and Untapable, 10 3-year-old fillies have won the Distaff, including Sacahuista (1987), Dance Smartly (1991), Hollywood Wildcat (1993), Ajina (1997), Spain (2000), Unbridled Elaine (2001), Royal Delta (2011), and Beholder (2013). All but Spain and Unbridled Elaine were the divisional Eclipse Award champions. The history bodes well for Monomoy Girl as she prepares to face her elders for the first time.

“She’s definitely, I think, bigger, stronger, hopefully faster, than she was in the spring,” Cox said.

Monomoy Girl’s signature victory of the spring came when she outdueled Wonder Gadot by a half-length to win the Kentucky Oaks. Abel Tasman was among the big names on that undercard, making her 4-year-old debut to great fanfare in the Grade 1 La Troienne Stakes. She finished fourth as the favorite, beaten just more than three lengths.

Abel Tasman bounced back five weeks later to win the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps Stakes at Belmont by 7 1/2 lengths. Less than an hour later, Monomoy Girl won the Acorn Stakes there, her third straight Grade 1 triumph. Both fillies added additional Grade 1 victories over the summer at Saratoga, with Abel Tasman winning the Personal Ensign Stakes and Monomoy Girl the Coaching Club American Oaks.

But both fillies come into their showdown off a recent hiccup. Monomoy Girl, who survived an objection to win the Kentucky Oaks, drifted in the lane of the Grade 1 Cotillion Stakes at Parx Racing as she crossed the line a neck ahead of Midnight Bisou. She was disqualified to second. Regular rider Florent Geroux still takes away positives from Monomoy Girl’s effort.

Geroux said that although Midnight Bisou was gaining, her jockey, Mike Smith, had already been “whipping and driving pretty hard.”

“I was just sitting chilly,” Geroux said.

He said Monomoy Girl drifted because “she got a little lonely on the lead.”

“I don’t think she knows any different – she still thinks she won,” he said. “I’d rather get beat by DQ and still have ‘won’ the race than get beat five lengths and think, ‘All right, now we go to the Breeders’ Cup,’ and it doesn’t feel like we have the best horse.”

The following Sunday, Abel Tasman burned bridge-jumpers when she broke slowly and was a shocking fifth as the heavy favorite in the Grade 1 Zenyatta Stakes, won by stablemate Vale Dori. One theory was that she was fighting off a virus that had gone through Baffert’s barn. She showed no lingering effects in recent weeks, working well in company with Vale Dori.

Mike Smith “said she was real flat, and then the way she got away was, you know – you just can’t get away like that,” Baffert said. “And she fell back, and that was the end of that. She didn’t want to run that day, but she has come back and worked really well. So, I just can’t see her doing that again. I think she will run her race.”