The Breeders' Cup Distaff brings together the best female dirt horses for a championship showdown at 1 1/8 miles on the main track. This race was won by the great Zenyatta at Santa Anita in 2008.

The 2023 Breeders' Cup Distaff will be held at Saturday, November 4 at Santa Anita Park. Bet & watch the race with OffTrackBetting.com (OTB) - US Legal Online Wagering.

Breeders' Cup Distaff

The Breeders' Cup Distaff (formerly Ladies Classic) is a Weight for Age Thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares, 3 years old and up. Known as the Breeders' Cup Distaff from its inception in 1984 through 2007, it is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup thoroughbred championships.

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Idiomatic Carries Win Streak into Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff

Juddmonte's Idiomatic (5-2), daylight winner of the Personal Ensign Stakes (G1) and Juddmonte Spinster Stakes (G1) in her past two starts, is the morning line favorite for the $2 million Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) to be run at 1 1/8 miles with a field of 11. Trained by Brad Cox, Idiomatic has won her past four starts and will start from post 4 with Florent Geroux aboard.

Co-second choices at 4-1 are Adare Manor and Clairiere.

Michael Lund Petersen's Adare Manor has won her past five starts for trainer Bob Baffert, a streak topped by a 5 1/4-length victory in the Oct. 1 Zenyatta Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita. Juan Hernandez has the mount from post 5.

Stonestreet Stables' Clairiere, who was beaten a head in a three-horse photo in last year's Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff at Keeneland, has two Grade 1 victories this year for trainer Steve Asmussen. Joel Rosario has the mount from post 9.

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ADARE MANOR AND IDIOMATIC LEAD LONGINES BREEDERS' CUP DISTAFF

OCT 25 - Top female stars from the barns of Bob Baffert, Brad Cox, and Chad Brown head the list of pre-entrants for the $2 million Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1), to be contested at 1 1/8 miles on the main track.

Michael Lund Petersen's 4-year-old filly Adare Manor has won five of six starts on the West Coast this year, and four of those were at Santa Anita. Trained by Baffert, Adare Manor comes into the Distaff with a front-running tour de force in the 1 1/16-mile Zenyatta Stakes (G2) on Oct. 1, drawing off by 5 1/4 lengths. In the East, Juddmonte's 4-year-old Idiomatic, trained by Cox, emerged as a star in this division with four graded stakes wins, including back-to-back grade 1 scores in the Personal Ensign Stakes (G1) at Saratoga and the Juddmonte Spinster Stakes (G1) at Keeneland, in which she earned an automatic berth into the Distaff.

Trainer Chad Brown has pre-entered two from Klaravich Stables, Inc.: the 3-year-old Randomized and the 5-year-old Search Results. A daughter of Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) winner Nyquist, Randomized has won three straight races, highlighted by a four-length triumph in the Alabama Stakes presented by Keeneland Sales (G1) at Saratoga. Search Results, sixth in last year's Distaff, was a recent winner of the Locust Grove Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs.

** Alphabetical Order **

A Mo Reay

A minor stakes-placed filly through last fall, A Mo Reay has taken her game to another level since the winter for current trainer Brad Cox.

After being auctioned during the November sale last year at Fasig-Tipton, where she sold for $400,000 to Green Acres Farm, she has flourished within the stakes ranks. She first won the Pago Hop Stakes at Fair Grounds Dec. 31, and followed that up with two more scores, this time in graded company.

She took the Feb. 4 Bayakoa Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park by a half-length, then traveled west to Santa Anita Park and captured the March 4 Beholder Mile (G1), rallying to win by a head.

Matched against some of the country's best in the May 5 La Troienne Stakes (G1) on Kentucky Oaks Day at Churchill Downs, she rallied to finish fourth, beaten 2 1/4 lengths.

She was then upset as the favorite in the July 1 Fleur de Lis Stakes (G2) at Ellis Park, though her second-place finish via disqualification earned her credits toward a potential start in the Longines Breeder's Cup Distaff (G1) via the Breeders' Cup Dirt Dozen program.

Back at Churchill Downs in mid-September, the daughter of Uncle Mo ran below expectations, finishing sixth in the Locust Grove Stakes (G3) for new owner Haruya Yoshida. The T & G Farm-bred filly raced earlier in the year for Hunter Valley Farm.

Following the Locust Grove, A Mo Reay was sent to New York for the Oct. 8 Beldame (G2). A Mo Reay chased a loose on the lead Randomized and was beaten 3 ¾ lengths in a runner-up finish in the 1 1/8-mile race run over a fast track.

A Mo Reay is a Kentucky-bred daughter of Uncle Mo out of the Pioneerof the Nile mare Margaret Reay.

Cox, a two-time Eclipse Award winner, is one of the most successful trainers in Breeders' Cup history, having scored nine victories from 31 starters. Cox won two runnings of the Breeders' Cup Distaff with Monomoy Girl in 2018 and 2020.

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Adare Manor

One of California's top 3-year-old fillies of 2022 when she won the Las Virgenes Stakes (G3) by 13 lengths and placed in the Santa Anita Oaks (G2), Michael Lund Petersen's Adare Manor has blossomed further this year at age 4.

After a season-opening second in an allowance optional claimer Feb. 18 at Santa Anita Park, she scored at that class level there a start later March 31. Then she triumphed in front-running fashion in the April 29 Santa Maria Stakes (G2), a style used again for a clear-cut victory in Santa Margarita Stakes (G2) June 10.

Returning at Del Mar in the Aug. 5 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes (G1), she was tested - first by pacesetter Elm Drive and then late by Desert Dawn, who had beaten her in the 2022 Santa Anita Oaks. This time Adare Manor was superior under Juan Hernandez, crossing the wire a length ahead of runner-up Desert Dawn, with Elm Drive another length and a half back in third.

Elm Drive "sort of took our filly out of her game a little bit. He had to keep riding her the whole way but, at the end, she's a big, long-jumping filly and she just got going there at the end," Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert said.

The Clement L. Hirsch marked the first Grade 1 victory for Adare Manor, a daughter of Uncle Mo bred by Town & Country Horse Farms and Gary Broad out of the Giant Gizmo mare Brooklynsway, a Grade 3 winner.

The Hirsch was part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In, providing paid, automatic berth to the Nov. 4 Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) at Santa Anita.

Adare Manor solidified her status as the best of the West in the division by cruising to a front-running 5 1/4-length victory as the 1-10 favorite in the Zenyatta (G2) going 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Oct. 1.

Clairiere

Two noses shy of glory when third in the Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) in 2022 at Keeneland, Stonestreet Stables' homebred Clairiere is continuing her relentless pursuit in the prestigious 1 1/8-mile dirt race. The Distaff this year is Nov. 4 at Santa Anita Park, the Arcadia, California, racetrack that will host the Breeders' Cup World Championships for a record 11th time.

The first half of 2023 for Clairiere has largely mirrored her 2022 season, with the Curlin mare out of the Bernardini mare Cavorting, now age 5, winning the Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park, just as she did in 2022. She came with a late burst under regular rider Joel Rosario to deny Search Results by a half-length this year in the 1 1/16-mile race, earning a paid, automatic berth into the Distaff via the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In.

The Ogden Phipps was her second victory in her initial three starts of 2023, following a score in the Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) April 15 at Oaklawn Park and a runner-up finish there in her season debut in the Azeri Stakes (G2) March 11.

Her two-race win streak was snapped on July 23 at Saratoga when she finished second, 2 1/4 lengths behind Nest in the Shuvee (G2) at the Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff distance of 1 1/8 miles. In her next start, Clairiere caught a sloppy track and finished fifth in the Personal Ensign (G1) on Aug. 25 at Saratoga.

A Breeders' Cup victory and a North American championship are the only two missing components from Clairiere's stellar resume. She is an earner of more than $3 million and a four-time Grade 1 winner whose first Breeders' Cup appearance was a fourth-place finish as a 3-year-old in the 2021 Distaff at Del Mar.

Speaking after the June 10 Ogden Phipps, Stonestreet Stables' Barbara Banke said the goal this year is to win an Eclipse Award with Clairiere.

"We were close last year, really close," she said of being outpolled by Malathaat, the narrow 2022 Distaff winner. "But maybe this year we'll do it."

Desert Dawn

Desert Dawn captured her first victory in her second race as a 2-year-old on Aug. 26, 2021. The bay daughter of Cupid rallied to win a maiden special weight at Del Mar by 4 ¼ lengths and has raced exclusively in graded stakes since. She ran three more times that year, which included a third in the Chandelier Stakes (G2) and a start in the NetJets Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1).

As a 3-year-old, Desert Dawn finished in the top three in five of her six starts, all around two turns. The filly, an Arizona homebred for H and E Ranch out of the Honour and Glory mare Ashley's Glory, accomplished her biggest feat in her second start of 2022. She eked out a neck score over Adare Manor in the Santa Anita Oaks (G2). The victory earned the Phil D'Amato trainee a trip to the May 6 Kentucky Oaks (G1), in which she finished third at 50-1 odds. She added a third in the June 12 Summertime Oaks (G2) after a bad stumble at the start. Then she battled to finish second in the Aug. 6 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes (G1). Desert Dawn ended her sophomore year with another second in the Sept. 4 Torrey Pines Stakes (G3), beaten three-quarters of a length.

Desert Dawn, 4 this year, came back March 11 and was fourth in the Beholder Mile (G1), then fifth in the May 5 La Troienne Stakes (G1). She ran third in the June 10 Santa Margarita Stakes (G2), was second beaten a length in the Aug. 5 Clement L. Hirsch, and second in the Oct. 1 Zenyatta Stakes (G2). All three of those races were won by Adare Manor.

Desert Dawn has raced around two turns so far this year and would shorten up to one turn in the PNC Bank Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1).

Hoosier Philly

Hoosier Philly was undefeated in three starts at Churchill Downs as a juvenile. The gray or roan filly came from mid-pack for a 1 ¾-length win in her 5 ½-furlong debut on Sept. 25, 2022. She stretched out to 1 1/16 miles in her next two outings. First she rolled to a 7 ½-length victory on a sloppy track in the Rags to Riches Stakes Oct. 30. She impressed again with a 5-length score in the Golden Rod Stakes (G2) Nov. 26.

Trained by Tom Amoss for Gold Standard Racing Stable, the daughter of Into Mischief started her 3-year-old season with two 1 1/16-mile starts at Fair Grounds. The Into Mischief daughter finished a distant third after bobbling at the start and bumping with a rival in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes (G2) Feb. 18. Then she was fourth in the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) March 25 after pressing the pace.

Hoosier Philly improved next out racing on the lead in the 1 1/8 -mile Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (G2) May 19 at Pimlico. She led into the stretch before being passed to finish second. Hoosier Philly continued that front-running form when cut back to a mile in the Monomoy Girl Overnight Stakes June 17 at Ellis Park, where she cruised to a 3 ½-length win.

Hoosier Philly was entered in the July 22 Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) at Saratoga, but scratched because of a minor foot problem. She was back in the starting gate Aug. 25 in the 7-furlong Charles Town Oaks (G3). After racing in fourth early she faded to eighth. She stretched back out to 1 1/16 miles for the Cotillion Stakes (G1) Sept. 23 at Parx Racing and finished fourth after sitting off the pace.

Candy Meadows bred Hoosier Philly in Kentucky out of Tapella, by Tapit.

Idiomatic

Largely a synthetic-track performer over the first part of her career, 4-year-old Idiomatic has developed this year into a high-class runner on dirt tracks for trainer Brad Cox and owner/breeder Juddmonte.

After winning her first three starts of 2023 on Turfway Park's synthetic Tapeta surface, the last of which was the Latonia Stakes March 25, she transferred her sharp stakes form to dirt, initially running second in the Ruffian Stakes (G2) at Belmont Park May 6.

Then she started another win streak, capturing the June 3 Shawnee Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs under Florent Geroux by 2 1/2 lengths and following that up with a gritty head victory over Classy Edition at Delaware Park in the July 8 Delaware Handicap (G2). Though her margin of victory was slight, she triumphed despite stumbling so badly at the start that Geroux was nearly unseated. She would rally from fifth in the field of six to prevail.

That performance inspired her connections to pursue the highest stakes level in the Aug. 25 Personal Ensign Stakes (G1) at Saratoga and she again delivered, this time against an all-star field that included Secret Oath, Nest and Clairiere. Breaking alertly in the Personal Ensign, she shot straight to the lead over a sloppy track and was never threatened on her way to a 4-length victory.

"I'm very proud of her to win by a few lengths there. Big race and I'm very proud of her," Cox said of his filly defeating the high-caliber opposition.

Idiomatic added another Grade 1 victory to her resume on Oct. 8 when she posted a front-running 4 ¼-length victory in the Juddmonte Spinster (G1) at Keeneland going a mile and eighth.

Idiomatic is bred for excellence, being by two-time Horse of the Year Curlin, winner of the 2007 Breeders' Cup Classic Powered by Dodge (G1). She is the first foal from 2017 Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) third-place finisher Lockdown.

Le Da Vida

Four years ago, when the Breeders' Cup was last held at Santa Anita Park, Keeneland-based trainer Ignacio Correas IV struck in the Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) when Blue Prize (ARG) won the $2 million race.

This year, Correas could return to the Distaff with another talented South American-bred runner: Masaiva Inc.'s Le Da Vida (CHI). Beyond the Breeders' Cup being again at Santa Anita this year, Le Da Vida shares another similarity to Blue Prize's stellar 2019 campaign in that she prepped for the Distaff by racing in the Juddmonte Spinster (G1) at Keeneland. While Blue Prize was victorious, Le Da Vida was not.

She proved no match for Idiomatic, who cruised from start to finish in the 1 1/8-mile race, defeating Le Da Vida by 4 1/4 lengths. Le Da Vida ran well in defeat, rallying after trailing the field in sixth after the race's opening-half mile. Others, such as Nest, last year's champion 3-year-old filly, were unable to make up ground in the slow-paced race.

"We had a good trip. My filly ran very good," said Vincent Cheminaud, who rode La Da Vida. "We were confident before the race because she was working very good in the morning and I'm very happy with a good performance. The winner is a very good horse. I'm happy for the future."

A 6-year-old daughter of Gemologist bred in Chile by Haras Santa Olga, Le Da Vida has been active in 2023, racing eight times with a 1-2-3 record. Her victory came in the ungraded Lady Jacqueline Stakes at Thistledown, and she ran second or third in two other graded stakes events besides the Spinster.

She is 8-5-5 in 24 starts overall with earnings of $615,124. Her initial 13 starts came in South America.

Pretty Mischievous

Through her first six starts Godolphin's homebred Pretty Mischievous had shown considerable talent, winning four races, but also vulnerability, such as when she idled upon taking the lead in the stretch of the March 25 Fair Grounds Oaks Presented by Fasig-Tipton (G2) and settled for second.

Equipped thereafter with blinkers, the semi-circular cups that sit around a horse's eyes, she has kept her gaze better focused ahead of her - resulting in three immediate Grade 1 victories in races for 3-year-old fillies.

On June 9 at Belmont Park, she continued her bid for year-end championship honors by narrowly edging Dorth Vader by a head in the Acorn (G1), five weeks after she won the May 5 Kentucky Oaks (G1) at Churchill Downs. Yet she again seemed content in both victories to not fully deliver a knockout blow to her rivals.

"I'm just so proud of her. She's really developed into an amazing filly," jockey Tyler Gaffalione said after the Acorn. "She seems to just be getting bigger and stronger with each race.

"I can't wait for the day she finishes out one of her races. She gets to the lead and she kind of waits. She just has so much talent. I don't think we've seen the best of her yet."

On Aug. 5 at Saratoga, Pretty Mischievous notched her third consecutive Grade 1 victory by winning the 7-furlong Test with a furious stretch run to prevail by a head. Following the Test, Pretty Mischievous returned to two turns and came up a half-length shy of catching loose on the lead pacesetter Ceiling Crusher over a sloppy sealed track in the 1 1/16-mile Cotillion (G1) on Sept. 23 at Parx.

A daughter of leading sire Into Mischief out of the Grade 1-winning Tapit mare Pretty City Dancer, Pretty Mischievous also won the Rachel Alexandra (G2) at Fair Grounds in February. That followed a 3-for-4 campaign at age 2 that was capped by a win in the Untapable Stakes at Fair Grounds.

"She's just a great filly," trainer Brendan Walsh said. "It's unbelievable and such an honor to have her for the people we have her [for]. I think she'll get better and better as the year goes on."

Randomized

Randomized was slower to develop than some of her counterparts, finishing third in her debut last July at age 2, and not winning her first race until late March of this year. But this summer she illustrated that she is among the elite 3-year-old fillies in the country.

Following an initial loss in her first stakes debut, a sixth-place finish in the June 6 Acorn Stakes (G1), she put it all together in two races at Saratoga.

First, she led throughout in winning the ungraded Wilton Stakes July 14 by 1 1/2 lengths in fast time, and a start later, she proved her class with a 4-length win under Joel Rosario in the Aug. 19 Alabama Stakes (G1). As in her preceding start, she dictated the pace and could not be caught, leaving such talented 3-year-old fillies as Wet Paint, Taxed and Gambling Girl in her wake.

Trainer Chad Brown credited owner Seth Klarman of Klaravich Stables for encouraging him to stretch the talented filly out in distance to 1 1/4 miles in the Alabama. Brown had been inclined to await the 1 1/16-mile Cotillion Stakes (G1) Sept. 23 at Parx Racing.

"We talked about it the other day and he said, 'If you're willing to do it, I have a good feeling about this.' He was right," Brown said.

Randomized followed up her Alabama victory with a front-running 3 3/4-length victory in the 1 1/8-mile Beldame (G2) at Aqueduct on Oct. 8.

The Cove Springs-bred Randomized is a daughter of 2015 Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) winner Nyquist.

Search Results

After running either second or third in her first three starts of 2023, Klaravich Stables' Search Results broke through with the victory Sept. 16 in the $400,000 Locust Grove Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs.

Spurting to the lead under Tyler Gaffalione, she turned back a challenge from Hidden Connection to pull away from that rival for a 3 1/4-length victory. Search Result raced 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in 1:42.40, the quickest of 10 runnings of the Locust Grove over the surface and distance.

"She ran a great race today," Gaffalione said. "I just sort of inherited the lead and she settled really well. In the stretch when I asked her to quicken, I had a lot of horse beneath me."

Search Results, a 5-year-old Machmer Hall-bred daughter of Flatter out of the Candy Ride (ARG) mare Co Cola, exited the Locust Grove with a 4-1-1-2 record on the year with earnings of $459,810.

Earlier starts in 2023 included a third in the July 22 Molly Pitcher Stakes (G3) at Monmouth Park, a second in the June 10 Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1) and a third in the May 5 La Troienne Stakes (G1) at Churchill Downs.

Trainer Chad Brown has exclusively raced Search Results in 1 1/16-mile races this year.

She won the 1 1/8-mile Gazelle Stakes (G3) in 2021 and has two seconds and a sixth-place finish in three subsequent starts in Grade 1 company at that distance. The sixth came in the 2022 Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) at Keeneland when she faltered after sitting in second place early. She finished 16 lengths behind victorious Malathaat.

Wet Paint

Godolphin's Wet Paint has left her mark in seven starts in 2023, winning four times and recording two seconds and a fourth. Even her fourth-place finish was respectable when she rallied to finish 3 lengths behind stablemate Pretty Mischievous as the favorite in the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) May 5 at Churchill Downs.

Preceding the Kentucky Oaks, the late-running Wet Paint rattled off three consecutive victories at Oaklawn Park. She first won the Jan. 28 Martha Washington Stakes, added the Feb. 25 Honeybee Stakes (G3) and capped that meet with a score in the April 1 Fantasy Stakes (G3).

Since the Oaks, the Brad Cox-trained filly ran second in the June 17 Monomoy Girl Overnight Stakes at Ellis Park, triumphed by a neck in the July 22 Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) at Saratoga, and then was second in the Aug. 19 Alabama Stakes (G1).

The daughter of 2010 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) winner Blame closed in the 1 1/4-mile Alabama but was no match for Randomized, who controlled the race from start to finish.

"I feel the winner got it pretty easy on the lead, but in the meantime I was a lot closer than we usually are," jockey Flavien Prat said. "Naturally, she put herself closer in the race, I just feel I didn't have any excuse. Hats off to the winner, she was better today."

Wet Paint won the last time she raced 1 1/8 miles - the distance of the Nov. 4 Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) - when she rallied to defeat Sacred Wish in the Coaching Club American Oaks.

Godolphin bred Wet Paint in Kentucky, produced from the Street Cry (IRE) mare Sky Painter.

Recent Breeders' Cup Distaff Winners

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2024 BREEDERS' CUP RACE SCHEDULE