Breeders’ Cup Distaff

BREEDERS’ CUP FRIDAY
PREVIEWS

BREEDERS’ CUP DISTAFF (G1),
10TH-SA, $2,000,000, 3YO/UP, F/M, 1 1/8M, 7:35PM, 11-1

Forget the Classic. Friday’s Distaff is the high point of this year’s
Breeders’ Cup in this writer’s humble opinion.

Only six will line up in the nine-furlong affair but they represent the best
in their division. Two are returning Breeders’ Cup winners as well as Eclipse
Award honorees, while four of the six have multiple Grade 1 scores on their
resumes.

There are multiple story lines in the Distaff as well. The Classic will more
than likely determine Horse of the Year, but the Distaff features a mare trying
for an historic three-peat in the race, the year’s top three sophomore fillies
battling it out for championship honors, and more than one looking to avenge a
past loss to another rival in the field.

With all that said, this is one of the more difficult races to handicap but I
just can’t go against ROYAL DELTA.

1ST — Despite her loss to leading three-year-old filly Princess of Sylmar in
the Beldame Invitational last out, Royal Delta enters Friday’s Distaff
owning the same exact record she did when going for the 2012 running of the race
(6-3-2-0).

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott has kept his star pupil to the same plan as
last year. Royal Delta opened her five-year-old campaign with a five-length win
in the Sabin in February, easily bettering her runner-up effort in the race
12 months prior. Despite her lackluster performance in the 2012 Dubai World Cup, her connections decided to try her again over the Tapeta surface at
Meydan that she clearly and vehemently dislikes. The result was the same with
Royal Delta finishing well up the track after offering no threat.

Mott gave the dark bay mare time to recover from her journey but she still
seemed tired when going for a title defense in the Fleur de Lis H. in
mid-June. Royal Delta wound up second that day, five lengths behind the winner,
but bounced back for her next two when repeating in the Delaware H. and
improving from her second in the 2012 Personal Ensign to a 4 1/2-length
score in late August.

The Kentucky-bred then faced her toughest challenge to date against Princess
of Sylmar in the Beldame. Both Mott and jockey Mike Smith have said they felt
Royal Delta wasn’t her best heading into that 1 1/8-mile contest, and that ended
up proving true as she had the lead entering the lane but couldn’t stop her
younger rival from going on by to a two-length win.

Even then Mott was thinking about an historic three-peat in the Distaff and
has since tightened the screws on his charge. Royal Delta has been burning up
the track at Belmont Park, posting a pair of half-mile bullets in :46 2/5 and a
five-eighths bullet in :59 3/5. Those are even better than her pre-2012 Distaff
workouts, and Royal Delta looks to be firing on all cylinders as she heads into
what could be the final start of her championship career.

2ND — One of those story lines in the Distaff is the three-year-old filly
championship. Princess of Sylmar appears to have it all wrapped up but BEHOLDER
would make a case for herself with a win in the race, which is entirely possible
especially considering the Richard Mandella filly is running out of her own
stall.

Santa Anita has been Beholder’s homebase since she recorded her first
workout. The Henny Hughes miss has racked up a 5-1-0 mark from six starts there,
with her only loss coming in the Santa Ynez in her 2012 opener. It was
revealed soon after that loss that the bay lass was suffering from a throat
ulcer and she was given time to recover from the ailment.

Since then Beholder has suffered just one loss — but it was a big one when
passed by Princess of Sylmar in the Kentucky Oaks on May 3. Prior to the
Churchill Downs contest Beholder had scored easy wins in the Las Virgenes and Santa Anita Oaks, and following the Kentucky Oaks she was given a break
over the summer as Mandella was already beginning preparations for the Distaff.

Beholder returned to action in the September 1 Torrey Pines at Del Mar,
wiring the field by 2 3/4 lengths, before posting a 1 1/4-length front-running
score in the Zenyatta, Santa Anita’s local prep for the Distaff.

Beholder is no stranger to the madness that surrounds Breeders’ Cup, either.
The bay Kentucky-bred earned an Eclipse Award as champion two-year-old filly
after running away with the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies 12 months ago, and a
repeat of that effort could easily see her wearing the purple blanket once
again.

3RD — Many think Royal Delta has already passed the leading distaffer torch
to PRINCESS OF SYLMAR, and that may very well be true.

The filly brings a 7-6-1-0 mark into the Distaff, suffering her only loss
when second in the Gazelle at Aqueduct one month prior to her Kentucky Oaks
triumph. She has since dominated her fellow three-year-old fillies with easy
wins in the Coaching Club American Oaks and Alabama.

Owner Ed Stanco and trainer Todd Pletcher then had a decision to make: keep
her running in the sophomore ranks and enter the Cotillion or take on
elders in the Beldame. The decision was made and Princess of Sylmar was thought
to have wrapped up
Eclipse Award honors by defeating Royal Delta.

The chestnut daughter of Majestic Warrior wasn’t Breeders’ Cup nominated and
Pletcher had already indicated she would bypass the Distaff and receive a break
after her Beldame win.

It looked like a rematch between Princess of Sylmar and her two main rivals,
Royal Delta and Beholder, would not happen. However, Stanco decided to put it
all on the line for the sake of the fans and paid the supplemental fee to enter
Princess of Sylmar in the Distaff. That could prove costly if Beholder ends up
winning, as some would then be stamping for her to be named champion
three-year-old filly.

Nothing would be more thrilling than to see Royal Delta, Beholder and
Princess of Sylmar hook up in the Santa Anita stretch to battle it out for both
the win and title as top female. If an upset happens in the Classic and Mile,
which features returning champion and reigning Horse of the Year Wise Dan, it’s
feasible the HOY crown could also pass to one of these exceptional fillies.

OTHERS — While all the focus will be on the top trio, it should be noted
both AUTHENTICITY and CLOSE HATCHES will be looking to turn the tables on their
rivals.

The former, who is also trained by Pletcher, finished second to Royal Delta
in the Personal Ensign and filled that same spot behind Beholder in the Zenyatta
last out. Authenticity made her stakes debut in the Rampart in March and
has stuck to the graded ranks for her five runs since then. She’s yet to finish
worse than second in that time, including a pair of wins in the La Troienne
and Shuvee H.

Close Hatches holds the distinction of being the only one to defeat Princess
of Sylmar this year. The Mott trainee broke her maiden at Gulfstream Park in
January, took an optional claimer at that track in March, then shipped to
Aqueduct for a front-running win in the Gazelle. That may have taken something
out of the First Defence filly as she never factored when seventh in the
Kentucky Oaks next out. She probably also found the one-mile distance of the
Acorn too short when second following the Oaks, but has romped in her past
two in the Mother Goose and Cotillion.

STREET GIRL is the question mark in the race, having run third in the
Cotillion after a very close fourth sprinting in the Ballerina. The bay
miss doesn’t appear on the same level as everyone else, but anything can happen
on Breeders’ Cup Day.