When pre-entries for the Breeders’ Cup World Championships have been launched Oct. 23, one shock was the absence of a Chad Brown trainee among the many potential starters in the Nov. 2 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1T).
The filly and mare turf division has run by way of the Brown barn in recent times, particularly on the East Coast and in Kentucky. The New York-based coach has educated 4 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf winners and 7 Eclipse Award-winning feminine turf horses since 2012.
But he’s with no single entry for the Filly and Mare Turf, one thing he attributes to the race being contested round three turns at 1 3/8 miles.
“I did not have any horses that I assumed might compete for the win at that distance,” Brown mentioned. “If it was at a mile-and-an-eighth, I do not see how I might run any lower than three horses within the race, and I am unsure any of these are adequate, however I’d have participated within the race.”
Brown voiced his frustration on the Breeders’ Cup’s distance alternative throughout a Breeders’ Cup media teleconference Wednesday when one of many reporters collaborating within the name requested about it. The Filly and Mare Turf is likely one of the extra distinctive Breeders’ Cup races annually because it continuously modifications distance relying on the scale of the host monitor’s turf course. At Santa Anita Park in 2023, it was held at 1 1/4 miles, whereas at Keeneland in 2022, it was held at 1 3/16 miles—in every case round two turns.
“Selections concerning the space of the race are made in collaboration with host monitor representatives with consideration given to the configuration of every race monitor,” mentioned Breeders’ Cup vice chairman of communications Claire Crosby. “With a possible most subject dimension of 14, an effort is made to make sure a secure and degree taking part in subject for all contenders.”
Sistercharlie, Brown’s fourth and most up-to-date winner of the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, wins the 2018 working at Churchill Downs
In two prior editions hosted at Del Mar, the race was held at 1 1/8 miles in 2017 with 14 starters and the present 1 3/8 miles in 2021 with 12 starters. International runners gained each races.
Crosby mentioned of the distances at Del Mar, “In 2017, the race was run at 1 1/8 miles out of the chute. Following enter from connections, the space was prolonged in 2021 with a purpose to allow the race to start out on the bottom, giving contenders a chance to settle earlier than getting into the primary flip. To return the race to the 1 1/8-mile distance at Del Mar, a discount to a 10-horse subject can be really useful within the curiosity of security.”
The 2024 version will host 14 starters, pending scratches.
Brown’s argument states that the race shouldn’t be held at 1 3/8 miles since there are not any grade 1 races for fillies and mares contested round three turns in North America.
Brown educated 4 particular person grade 1-winning fillies and mares on the turf this season, all 4 selecting up victories starting from one mile to 1 1/8 miles. Brown felt the space was too far for every of them and pre-entered Gina Romantica and Chili Flag in opposition to males within the Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1T). His different two, Beaute Cachee and Whitebeam , weren’t entered.
Because the Breeders’ Cup performs a big position in figuring out the Eclipse Award winner on the finish of the yr, Brown believes it needs to be run at or near the space through which the highest, grade 1-level horses compete year-round.
“I do not perceive how we are able to have a championship race for this division with no grade 1 races the whole yr at this distance. It does not make sense to me,” Brown mentioned.
Gina Romantica wins the First Woman Stakes at Keeneland
The 1 3/8-mile Flower Bowl Stakes (G2T) in 2021 at Saratoga Race Course was a grade 1, however in 2022, the American Graded Stakes Committee downgraded the race to a grade 2. Brown gained the race this yr with Thought Technology , who earned an computerized berth to the Breeders’ Cup by way of the Breeders’ Cup Problem Sequence: Win and You are In, however she was not pre-entered after a disappointing remaining prep.
The 2 different American Breeders’ Cup Problem Races have been held round two turns, the 1 3/16-mile Beverly D Stakes (G2T) at Colonial Downs and 1 1/4-mile Rodeo Drive Stakes (G2T) at Santa Anita. Each races have been downgraded from grade 1 standing inside the final two years.
“In the event that they’re awarding grade 1s to races (ranging) from a mile to a mile-and-a-quarter on this division, and so they’re not upgrading any of the races which can be a mile-and-three-eigths, a mile-and-a-half, clearly that committee feels that division is not worthy of grade 1 standing,” Brown mentioned. “I do not know why we’re working a Breeders’ Cup race that far.”
He mentioned this whereas noting that he gained the race with Sistercharlie when it was contested at 1 3/8 miles at Churchill Downs in 2018. Churchill Downs, like Del Mar, can solely run two-turn races so long as 1 1/8 miles on turf attributable to its course dimensions.
The opposite three horses to win grade 1s open to older fillies and mares on turf this yr are all pre-entered for the Nov. 2 race at Del Mar regardless of the space improve: Anisette , winner of the 1 1/8-mile Gamely Stakes (G1T), Didia , winner of the 1 3/16-mile New York Stakes (G1T), and Full Depend Felicia , winner of the 1 1/4-mile E. P. Taylor Stakes (G1T).
The rise in distance additionally lured Battle Like Goddess , one of many nation’s prime feminine turf runners, again into the Filly and Mare Turf subject. Given the shorter two-turn distances utilized for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Keeneland and Santa Anita the final two years, Corridor of Fame coach Invoice Mott opted to run her in opposition to males within the Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1T) to supply her with extra distance. Now with the 1 3/8-mile distance, she’s going to race in opposition to her personal intercourse within the Breeders’ Cup for the primary time since ending a large third in Del Mar’s 2021 version.
Handiest as a stayer and together with her connections in pursuit of grade 1 alternatives, the previous three years she has competed in opposition to males within the 1 1/2-mile Joe Hirsch Turf Basic Stakes (G1T), successful in 2022 and 2023 earlier than a runner-up end this yr.