When pre-entries for the Breeders’ Cup World Championships were released Oct. 23, one surprise was the absence of a Chad Brown trainee among the potential starters in the Nov. 2 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1T).
The filly and mare turf division has run through the Brown barn in recent years, especially on the East Coast and in Kentucky. The New York-based trainer has trained four Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf winners and seven Eclipse Award-winning female turf horses since 2012.
Yet he is without a single entry for the Filly and Mare Turf, something he attributes to the race being contested around three turns at 1 3/8 miles.
“I didn’t have any horses that I thought could compete for the win at that distance,” Brown said. “If it was at a mile-and-an-eighth, I don’t see how I could run any less than three horses in the race, and I’m not sure any of those are good enough, but I would have participated in the race.”
Brown voiced his frustration at the Breeders’ Cup’s distance choice during a Breeders’ Cup media teleconference Wednesday when one of the reporters participating in the call asked about it. The Filly and Mare Turf is one of the more unique Breeders’ Cup races each year as it constantly changes distance depending on the dimensions of the host track’s turf course. At Santa Anita Park in 2023, it was held at 1 1/4 miles, while at Keeneland in 2022, it was held at 1 3/16 miles—in each case around two turns.
“Decisions regarding the distance of the race are made in collaboration with host track representatives with consideration given to the configuration of each race track,” said Breeders’ Cup vice president of communications Claire Crosby. “With a potential maximum field size of 14, an effort is made to ensure a safe and level playing field for all contenders.”
Sistercharlie, Brown’s fourth and most recent winner of the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, wins the 2018 running 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 current 1 3/8 miles in 2021 with 12 starters. Foreign runners won both races.
Crosby said of the distances at Del Mar, “In 2017, the race was run at 1 1/8 miles out of the chute. Following input from connections, the distance was extended in 2021 in order to permit the race to start on the backside, giving contenders an opportunity to settle before entering the first turn. To return the race to the 1 1/8-mile distance at Del Mar, a reduction to a 10-horse field would be recommended in the interest of safety.”
The 2024 edition will host 14 starters, pending scratches.
Brown’s argument states that the race should not be held at 1 3/8 miles since there are no longer any grade 1 races for fillies and mares contested around three turns in North America.
Brown trained four individual grade 1-winning fillies and mares on the turf this season, all four picking up victories ranging from one mile to 1 1/8 miles. Brown felt the distance was too far for each of them and pre-entered Gina Romantica and Chili Flag against males in the Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1T). His other two, Beaute Cachee and Whitebeam , were not entered.
As the Breeders’ Cup plays a significant role in determining the Eclipse Award winner at the end of the year, Brown believes it should be run at or close to the distance in which the top, grade 1-level horses compete year-round.
“I don’t understand how we can have a championship race for this division with no grade 1 races the entire year at this distance. It doesn’t make sense to me,” Brown said.
Gina Romantica wins the First Lady Stakes at Keeneland
The 1 3/8-mile Flower Bowl Stakes (G2T) in 2021 at Saratoga Race Course was a grade 1, but in 2022, the American Graded Stakes Committee downgraded the race to a grade 2. Brown won the race this year with Idea Generation , who earned an automatic berth to the Breeders’ Cup via the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series: Win and You’re In, but she was not pre-entered after a disappointing final prep.
The two other American Breeders’ Cup Challenge Races were held around 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. Both races were downgraded from grade 1 status within the last two years.
“If they’re awarding grade 1s to races (ranging) from a mile to a mile-and-a-quarter in this division, and they’re not upgrading any of the races that are a mile-and-three-eigths, a mile-and-a-half, clearly that committee feels that division isn’t worthy of grade 1 status,” Brown said. “I don’t know why we’re running a Breeders’ Cup race that far.”
He said this while noting that he won the race with Sistercharlie when it was contested at 1 3/8 miles at Churchill Downs in 2018. Churchill Downs, like Del Mar, can only run two-turn races as long as 1 1/8 miles on turf due to its course dimensions.
The other three horses to win grade 1s open to older fillies and mares on turf this year are all pre-entered for the Nov. 2 race at Del Mar despite the distance increase: 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 Count Felicia , winner of the 1 1/4-mile E. P. Taylor Stakes (G1T).
The increase in distance also lured War Like Goddess , one of the nation’s top female turf runners, back into the Filly and Mare Turf field. Given the shorter two-turn distances utilized for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Keeneland and Santa Anita the last two years, Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott opted to run her against males in the Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1T) to provide her with more distance. Now with the 1 3/8-mile distance, she will race against her own sex in the Breeders’ Cup for the first time since finishing a wide third in Del Mar’s 2021 edition.
Most effective as a stayer and with her connections in pursuit of grade 1 opportunities, the past three years she has competed against males in the 1 1/2-mile Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes (G1T), winning in 2022 and 2023 before a runner-up finish this year.
