Purse:	$2,000,000	Grade:	1
Distance:	1 1/4 Mile	Age:	3+

Audarya To Defend Title in 2021 Filly & Mare Turf

The $2 million Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1) at 1 3/8 miles is shaping up as a wide-open affair among the 14 championship races. Mrs. A.M. Swinburn's Audarya (FR) defends her title. Trained by James Fanshawe, Audarya has not won in four starts this year, with her best performances being a second-place finish to Love in the Prince of Wales's Stakes and another runner-up finish in the Prix Jean Romanet (G1) in August at Deauville.

Audarya finished fourth in the "Win and You're In" Prix de l'Opera (G1) behind Le Haras De La Gousserie's Rougir (FR), who scored her first win of the year for trainer Cedric Rossi. On June 26 at Hipodromo De Monterrico in Lima, Peru, Arriba Arequipa's Reina de Mollendo (ARG) won the Gran Premio Pamplona (G1), earning her an automatic spot in the Filly and Mare Turf. She is trained by Kenny McPeek.

In the U.S., George Krikorian's War Like Goddess captured the "Win and You're In" Flower Bowl (G1) on Sept. 4 at Saratoga for trainer Bill Mott and improved her record to 6-for-7 lifetime.

Medallion Racing, Abbondanza Racing, and MyRacehorse's Going to Vegas won Santa Anita's Oct. 2 Rodeo Drive (G1) for trainer Richard Baltas to gain a free berth.

Going to Vegas

Going to Vegas kept much of her talent hidden during the first half of her career while racing primarily in the claiming ranks. In those races, qualified buyers had many opportunities to buy her for less than $100,000. There were no takers until trainer Richard Baltas took the gamble and acquired her for $50,000 on behalf of his clients on June 12, 2020. She never raced with a claiming price again and eventually was promoted to stakes company in which she let her talent finally shine.

Following her runner-up effort in the American Oaks (G1) at Santa Anita last December, she was purchased privately by her current connections that includes hundreds of partners with "microshares." An estimated crowd of more than 200 of her owners overflowed Del Mar's winner's circle when she won the John C. Mabee Stakes (G2) Sept. 4. They campaign as Abbondanza Racing (Bing Bush of Del Mar), Medallion Racing (Phillip Shelton of Nicholasville, Kentucky) and mega syndicate MyRacehorse.

The winner's circle was full again Oct. 2 at Santa Anita following Going to Vegas' third consecutive victory, this coming in the Rodeo Drive (G1).

Baltas attributes her rise to prominence to her ability to race from off the pace.

"She was where she wants (second, in a stalking position) from the start," he said of Going to Vegas in the John C. Mabee. "She'll rate now, she used to not rate. (The owners) are all having fun and that's what it's all about."

Prior to being claimed, Going to Vegas raced for her breeders Kirk and Judy Robison. The El Paso, Texas, residents, who have built a successful restaurant franchise business, have been involved in Thoroughbred ownership about 30 years. Known for their benevolence and philanthropy, the they established the Judy and Kirk Robison Foundation to further build community with a variety of programs. The couple also own Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) contender Jackie's Warrior.

Going to Vegas is a daughter of 2013 and 2014 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) winner Goldencents.

Rougir (FR)

Rougir (FR) may mean `to blush' in French, but this Parisian princess was anything but bashful when landing the "Win and You're In" Prix de l'Opera Longines (G1) Oct. 3 (one race following the featured Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe-G1). The Cedric Rossi-trained and Haras de la Gousserie-owned chestnut sophomore fought hard through the final furlong of the 10-furlong event to triumph by a nose over last-out Group 1 winner Grand Glory (GB).

Left in Rougir's wake that day was last year's Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1) champ Audarya (FR), which immediately signified Rougir as a filly with whom to reckon if she came stateside - and she is! Representing the trainer-owner duo who landed the Champion Stakes (G1) with Sealiway (FR), the four-time winner returned to and exceeded massively the form that saw her win the Prix de Reservoirs (G3) one year ago in her juvenile season finale.

While she must prove that she can handle faster/firmer ground and Del Mar's tight turns, her connections have expressed confidence that the French-bred filly can handle any ground and she simply has not had enough opportunities in the afternoons on the quick going. A winner from 7 to 10 furlongs, she must now, also, step up another furlong.

Overall, Rougir has a record of 4-1-3 from 13 starts.

Love (IRE)

All you needed, in 2020, was Love - but 2021 has been a more complex story for the flashy chestnut European Champion 3-Year-Old Filly of last year.

In 2020, Love (IRE) landed all three of her races in devastating fashion and was poised to start in the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (G1) as the favorite. Unfavorable ground had her connections second-guessing a run at ParisLongchamp, so they put the filly away for a 2021 campaign--one that has had its ups and downs.

Overall, the trainee of 13-time Breeders' Cup winner Aidan O'Brien has seven wins from 14 starts, including five Group 1 victories among those triumphs. A daughter of Galileo (IRE), she boasts an enviable amount of early speed for a European - enough to earn her the 1-mile 1,000 Guineas at 3 - and ample stamina to win the Darley Yorkshire Oaks and English Oaks over 12 furlongs.

A hard-trying winner of the Prince of Wales's Stakes (G1) in June to kick off her 2021 campaign, she was then third in an oddly run King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (G1) (in which her pacesetter Broome (IRE) missed the break) behind bona fide stars Adayar (IRE) and Mishriff (IRE) and was then third again in the Juddmonte International Stakes (G1), a race in which she was substituting for an ailing St Mark's Basilica (FR). In the Blandford Stakes (G2) over Irish Champions Weekend, she dropped back in class and distance to 10 furlongs and was caught at the wire by La Petite Coco (IRE).

My Sister Nat (FR)

If Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1) contender My Sister Nat (FR) can win the race, she'll help her dam Starlet's Sister (IRE) make history. Her half-sister is 2018 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf winner Sistercharlie (IRE) and Starlet's Sister would become the seventh broodmare in history to produce two Breeders' Cup winners with My Sister Nat's victory.

My Sister Nat is raced by the same team that raced her sister in owner Peter Brant and trainer Chad Brown. The 6-year-old Acclamation (GB) daughter followed Sistercharlie's lead from the start when hailing from the same breeding program and starting her career in France. Just like her sister, she had also proven herself a good racehorse with a Group 3 win and Group 2 placing in her first season of racing.

Brant owned both Sistercharlie and their half-brother Sottsass (FR) and snapped My Sister Nat up after that campaign to ship her to North America and Brown's barn. My Sister Nat has won two editions of the Fasig-Tipton Waya Stakes (G3) the past two years with placings in some of the other top turf races in the nation. Racing in non-stakes company her first three outings in the U.S., she made her North American stakes debut when second in the Long Island Stakes (G3) in 2019 and has stayed at the graded stakes level since.

My Sister Nat is arguably one of the most consistent turf females in the country with only two off-the-board finishes in her 11 stakes attempts spanning back to November 2019. Included in those placings are back-to-back Flower Bowl Stakes (G1) with the mare missing out on a valuable Grade 1 win by just a head in 2020. In all, coming into the 2021 Breeders' Cup, My Sister Nat has finished in the top three 16 times in her 20-start career.

"She's a very nice and very honest mare," Brown's assistant Dan Stupp said after her Waya Stakes victory this year. "She's had a very consistent career. She shows up every time with her run. Sometimes pace dynamics don't work out in her favor, and we get a little unlucky but Jose [Ortiz] always rides her well and she always shows up. It's nice to see her put in another strong effort."

The mare's owner Peter Brant isn't a stranger to the Breeders' Cup winner's circle. He saw Sistercharlie visit it in 2018, 30 years after his runner Gulch won the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) on his way to Champion Sprinter honors in 1988. In all, Brant has seen his runners start in the Breeders' Cup 24 times - including My Sister Nat finishing off the board last year.

Audarya (FR)

Alison Swinburn's Audarya denied Rushing Fall 1 last victory on her favorite course, catching the "Turf Rocket" in the final jumps to win Saturday's $2 million Breeders' Cup Maker's Mark Filly & Mare Turf (G1) at Keeneland.

Audarya broke from post 11 under Pierre-Charles Boudot and used the initial stretch run to settle into a ground-saving stalking position in the middle of the field.

Mean Mary initially went to the front, but the far outside-breaking Cayenne Pepper refused to let that happen and took the lead heading into the clubhouse turn, forcing Mean Mary to stalk.

Cayenne Pepper rolled through opening fractions of :23.50, :47.44, and 1:10.95, but Mean Mary ranged up to retake the lead as the field entered the far turn.

Rushing Fall took first run at the new leader, making a three-wide bid off the turn and taking over at the top of the stretch, but Audarya was coming with a furious push just behind her.

Rushing Fall fought hard to hold onto her shrinking advantage, but Audarya took over near the 1/16 pole and held safely until she crossed a neck in front of Rushing Fall on the wire.

The James Fanshawe trainee completed the 1 3/16-mile firm turf route in 1:52.72, besting the 1:53.01 that Speedy Solution set earlier this year.

"First of all, thanks to all the team at home," Fanshawe said. "I just can't believe it, some race to win. I'm just so thrilled. PC gave her a superb ride."

Harvey's Lil Goil led a four-horse rally from the rear to take third over Lady Prancealot, Civil Union, and Sistercharlie, while Mean Mary faded in the stretch to seventh.

Nay Lady Nay, My Sister Nat, Cayenne Pepper, Peaceful, Mucho Unusual, and Terebellum completed the order of finish.

Starship Jubilee stumbled as she broke from the rail and lost jockey Florent Geroux, but both horse and rider returned safely.

Audarya's win came in her stateside racing debut and was her second at the Grade/Group 1 level to improve her career mark to 13-5-4-1. The French-bred 4-year-old Wootton Bassett filly has now earned $1,229,046 after giving her human connections their first Breeders' Cup victory.

"The (traveling crew) has looked after her superbly since she's been here," Fanshawe said. "She's done everything right since she's been here. Breeders' Cup has looked after us amazingly."

Audarya returned $37.60 to win, $16 to place, and $10.20 to show. Rushing Fall brought back $4.80 to place and $3.40 to show, while Harvey's Lil Goil paid $10.80 to show.

2024 BREEDERS' CUP RACE SCHEDULE

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What is the Breeders Cup' Filly & Mare Turf?

The Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (Grade 1) is a relative newcomer as it is the only existing series in the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships races that was not a part of the original seven Breeders' Cup races group begun in 1984.

In July 1998, the Breeders' Cup board of directors voted on the decision to fill an obvious gap in the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships lineup by creating this $1 million series for fillies and mares. The first Filly & Mare Turf was held in 1999 at Gulfstream Park.

Until that time, the female turf division had no definitive championship race, and distaffers were forced to race in open company. The audacious misses had to settle for competing against their male counterparts in the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1) and the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1). Back then, the ladies already more than held their own at the Breeders' Cup races, beginning with Royal Heroine (Ireland). She was the only filly in the field when she triumphed in the very first running of the Mile in 1984, and in the process, set a new course record at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, California.

Following Royal Heroine's footsteps, Miesque snagged back-to-back wins at the Mile in 1987 and 1988, while Ridgewood Pearl (Great Britain) captured the 1995 running, moving the Mile championship for the misses up to four of the first 12 runnings. The females performed just as well in the Breeders' Cup Turf, notably, with Pebbles (Great Britain) who took the 1985 running and Miss Alleged who triumphed in 1991.

The Filly & Mare Turf was first run in 1999 at 1 3/8 miles, owing mainly to Gulfstream Park's grass course configuration, and was again contested like so in the following year. Come 2001, the distance was then shifted to 10 furlongs.

Ever since the initial running in 1999, the newer series has fulfilled its intended purpose. Phillips Racing Partnership's Soaring Softly snagged an Eclipse Award as champion turf female with a three-quarter-length victory on that first year.

In 2000 at Churchill Downs, Stronach Stable's Perfect Sting won by the same margin, 3/4 length, over Tout Charmant. Perfect Sting was subsequently voted champion turf female.

The Filly & Mare Turf (Grade 1) was first run in 1999 at 1 3/8 miles, but the distance was then shifted to 10 furlongs.

European interests in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf eventually broke through in 2001 at Belmont Park, when Juddmonte Farms' French-based Banks Hill (Great Britain) won by 5 1/2 lengths. That year, the Filly & Mare Turf was run at 1 1/4 miles for the first time, which is its prescribed distance when course configurations permit.

In 2003, the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf may have finally put the overseas runners at the fore of the Breeders' Cup map as European-trained horses swept the first three positions and European-bred horses bagged the top five. 3-1 favorite Islington stalked the pace in sixth early under Kieren Fallon, then at the top of the stretch came on strong and duelled with 47-1 shot L'Ancresse down the stretch to win by a neck in a time of 1:59. It was 2 ½ lengths back to 14-1 shot Yesterday while England-bred Heat Haze finished fourth.

2004 continued the European streak when race favorite Ouija Board of Great Britain won the championship at 0.90 odds with jockey Kieren Fallon. The runnerup was Film Maker at 16.50 odds with jockey John Velasquez while third place went to Wonder Again at 10.70 odds with jockey Edgar Prado.

Recent Breeders Cup' Filly & Mare Turf Winners