Wild Illusion by a neck in Prix de l’Opera

Godolphin, trainer Charlie Appleby, and jockey William Buick won the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar with Wuheida, and the same connections will have one of the favorites for the 2018 Filly and Mare Turf at Churchill Downs after Wild Illusion took down the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera on Sunday at Longchamp.

The Opera is a Breeders’ Cup Challenge Win and You’re In race linked to the Filly and Mare Turf, and Wild Illusion earned a fees-paid berth in the race plus travel expenses to Louisville, Ky. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, Godolphin’s principal, probably could cover the shipping fees himself, and more important than the BC Challenge status was the Opera confirming Wild Illusion’s sharp front-running score Aug. 2 in the Group 1 Nassau Stakes at Goodwood.

That race, like the Opera, was contested over 1 1/4 miles and Wild Illusion has hit her best stride this year after being cut back from a couple of 1 1/2-mile tries. Wild Illusion dictated terms last out in the Nassau but on Sunday was held up in the second flight as the Godolphin filly Winter Lightning set the pace.

Wild Illusion cruised up toward the front about five-sixteenths of a mile out and, after Magic Wand had made a strong move along the rail to reach contention, found another gear, turning Magic Wand back and holding clear a late run from Homerique and an even later one from With You to get home by a neck. Magic Wand, who flattened out slightly in the final furlong, won a photo for second over Homerique as With You was a clear fourth.

“This filly is tough, she’s tough. The plan was always to come here and hopefully head to the Breeders’ Cup,” Appleby said.

Wild Illusion, a winner of half of her eight starts, is by Dubawi and out of Rumh, by the top German stallion Monsun.

One Master by a whisker in Foret

One Master led a parade of longshots in the Group 1 Prix de la Foret as the favored Polydream got stuck behind stopping horses in the late stages and never had a chance.

One Master won a very tight photo over Inns of Court, who was a head better than Dutch Master in what might turn out to be a modest edition of the seven-furlong, one-turn Foret. Pierre Charles-Boudot rode the winner, who was nearly 50-1 overseas, for trainer William Haggas, who earlier Sunday had taken a heartbreaking defeat when Sea of Class just missed catching Enable in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

One Master never had raced above the Group 3 level and was coming off a win at Tipperary, not the usual route of a Foret winner, but the 4-year-old filly appears to excel in races at seven furlongs and stepped up with a career-best on Sunday. One Master, by Fastnet Rock and out of Enticing, by Pivotal, was bred and is owned by the Lael Stable of Pennsylvanians Roy and Gretchen Jackson.

Polydream tracked the pace on the inside and appeared to have run into the final 1 1/2 furlongs but got stuck in a pocket and couldn’t get out until much too late, finishing seventh.