LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Even-money favorite Monomoy Girl blew by the leaders around the final turn and held off a challenge by 14-1 shot Valiance to win the 1 1/8-mile Distaff for the top fillies and mares 3 years old and up at the Breeders’ Cup world championships.
The star 5-year-old won for the 13th time in 15th races, giving trainer Brad Cox his fourth win at this Breeders’ Cup to tie the record.
“I thought she was better than she’d ever been coming into this, I really, really did, and I think she proved that,” Cox said. “Just a tremendous filly. She’s a champion.”
Monomoy Girl won in 1:47.84, paying $4.00 to win, $3.00 to place and $2.40 to show. Valiance was second and Dunbar Road third.
Preakness winner Swiss Skydiver didn’t finish in the top three after stumbling out of the starting gate. Trainer Kenny McPeek chose to run Swiss Skydiver against older fillies and mares in the Distaff rather than going against the colts in the Classic and knew this was still a possibility.
“She’s got a ladder to climb against older fillies and mares,” McPeek said. “Monomoy Girl’s a great filly. She deserves Hall of Fame status.”
This is likely Monomoy Girl’s last race before she becomes a broodmare.
The Distaff was among the notable races leading up to the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at the $31 million season-ending championships. Monomoy Girl’s second Cup win in three years followed a big upset in the Mile by Order of Australia.
The 73-1 longshot, in the race following a scratch and with a substitute rider aboard, won the $2 million race by a neck over Circus Maximus.
The Irish-bred colt entered the 15-horse field after One Master was scratched. Jockey Pierre Charles Boudot was riding in place of Christophe Soumillon after he tested positive for COVID-19 this week.
Order of Australia started from the far post and quickly moved into contention before running second entering the stretch. He overtook Halladay and held off charging Circus Maximus for the win, with Lope Y Fernandez third to complete a 1-2-3 sweep of entries for trainer Aiden O’Brien.
It was the second Cup win Saturday for Boudot, who rode 17-1 French bred Audarya to victory in the Filly & Mare Turf. Order of Australia covered the mile on firm turf in 1:33.73 and paid $148.40, $57 and $25.60.
Order of Australia’s win was among a strong of impressive Cup wins by European horses at Keeneland.
Earlier, Boudot rode Audarya to a track-record 1:52.72 over 1 3/16 miles to win the $1 million Filly & Mare Turf by a neck over Rushing Fall.
British-bred filly Glass Slippers earned a half-length victory Wet Your Whistle in the 5+-furlong Turf Sprint. The 4-year-old filly’s of 1:01.53 was just off the track record of 1:00.86 by Leinster in July.
Bob Baffert-trained filly Gamine opened the nine-race slate of stakes races with a dominant, record-setting trip in the Filly and Mare Sprint.
Gamine beat retiring great Serengeti Empress 6\ lengths and clocked a track-record 1:20.20 over seven furlongs to top Taris’ old mark of 1:21.32 on Oct. 18, 2014. Her fourth victory this year comes after a tumultuous year in which she tested positive for lidocaine in May and for betamethasone, a regulated corticosteroid, in September.
Baffert is appealing a suspension in the first case, while results are pending from a split-sample test in the second. But the Hall of Fame trainer gushed over his filly.
“She showed what a wonderful filly she is and there was no doubt today,” Baffert said. “That was a tough field. Serengeti Empress, we know she’s a great filly and there were some really nice fillies in there. And to break a track record.”
Knicks Go also broke a track record, winning the Dirt Mile by 3 1/2 lengths over Jesus’ Team and running 1:33.85.