GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf

Cheveley Park Stud homebred INSPIRAL (GB) (Frankel {GB}--Starscope {GB}, by Selkirk) became the first Breeders' Cup winner for her Juddmonte sire with a narrow victory over dual Group 1 winner Warm Heart (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the $2-million GI Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf on Saturday. It was the second win in the race for Cheveley Park's Thompson family, who also took the 2016 edition with Queen's Trust (GB) (Dansili {GB}). One of the back-markers crossing the dirt in the 1 1/4-mile contest, the 5-2 favorite found...

NEW KENT, VA--Fev Rover (Ire) is headed West. With a win in Saturday's GI Beverly D. S., another line of history was written in the storied legacy of thoroughbred racing in Virginia. Colonial's first Grade I race attracted a field of just five going 1 3/16 miles over the famed Secretariat turf course. And with the Friday night defection of her main rival Didia (Arg) (Orpen), Fev Rover took full advantage and asserted her dominance. In doing so, she booked herself a fees-paid spot in November's GI Breeders' Cup Filly...

Tuesday (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), a winner of the G1 Cazoo Oaks and the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf, has been retired from racing to become a broodmare. Raced by Westerberg, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith, the Coolmore-bred bay started 10 times, her final eight all in Group 1 company. Off the mark at second asking in her 3-year-old bow at Naas in March, she ran third in the G1 1000 Guineas in May, before going one better in the G1 Irish 1000 Guineas later that...

LEXINGTON, KY--This was a day that seemed to hang suspended, if not quite on a single hair of his tail, then certainly on the fate of a single horse. Even the gale that blew through the afternoon had a portentous quality, as though the very elements were anticipating some complementary melodrama of wind and fire from Flightline (Tapit). Yet history is often made not to a blaring fanfare but in quiet increments--and the 39 steps taken by the Breeders' Cup since its inauguration in 1984 here brought the Europeans to...

Multiple Group 1 winners Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) and Nashwa (GB) (Frankel {GB}) are adapting well to Lexington in advance of their Breeders' Cup engagements on Saturday at Keeneland, according to trainer John Gosden. Aiming for the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Turf, the Prince Faisal colourbearer has won three times at the highest level in France, Dubai and the UK. Mishriff enters off a 13th in deep ground in the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Frankie Dettori was aboard Mishriff, while Hollie Doyle was in the irons for...

Tuesday marked the first day the seven-strong Aidan O'Brien string got a taste of the Keeneland track ahead of the two-day Breeders' Cup on Nov. 4-5. Leading the Coolmore partners septet after their quarantine period was Group 1 winner Broome (Ire) (Australia {GB}) and G3 Derby Trial S. hero Stone Age (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who both line up in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Turf and will leave from stalls four and three, respectively. Second in the 2021 Turf to Godolphin and Charlie Appleby's Yibir (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) at Del...

Veteran owner/breeder Imad Al Sagar is hoping for a positive run from his dual Group 1 winner Nashwa (GB) (Frankel {GB}) in the GI Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf at Keeneland on Saturday. They bay, who was third in the G1 Cazoo Oaks prior to taking the G1 Prix de Diane in June and the G1 Nassau S. in July, enters the 1 3/16-mile race on the back of a good second-place run in the G1 Prix de l'Opera in October. She will leave from stall three...

Multiple Group 1-winning duo Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) and Nashwa (GB) (Frankel {Ire}) pleased co-trainers John and Thady Gosden in their final gallops on Friday ahead of the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland. Racing in the colours of Prince Faisal and Imad Al Sagar, respectively, the pair are part of a 23-strong British contingent that is making the trip to Kentucky on Saturday for the two-day meeting on Nov. 4 and 5. The 5-year-old entire, who will stand under the Sumbe banner at Haras de Montfort et Preaux in France...

Sharp miler Kinross (GB) (Kingman {GB}) has pleased trainer Ralph Beckett in his preparations for the GI Breeders' Cup Mile at Keeneland, the trainer revealed on Friday. Marc Chan's 5-year-old gelding is riding a four-race winning streak, and after victories in the G2 City Of York S. and the G2 Park S. in August and September, found France to his liking with a two-length victory in the G1 Prix de la Foret. He added an exclamation point to his season with a 2 1/4-length tally in the G1 British Champions...

Classic heroine Nashwa (GB) (Frankel {GB}) has exited her close second in the G1 Prix de l'Opera in good order and will travel to Keeneland in November to contest the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf, according to owner Imad Al Sagar's racing manager Teddy Grimthorpe. Blue Diamond Stud's retained rider Hollie Doyle will ride the bay. The Blue Diamond Stud homebred took the May 14 Listed Haras de Bouquetot Fillies' Trial S. and was third in the G1 Cazoo Oaks in early June. She gained her Classic laurel...

Gran Alegria (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) put her stamp on the G1 Victoria Mile at Tokyo on Sunday, a "Win and You're In" for the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf. The 2020 Japanese Champion Sprinter/Miler was winning her fifth Group 1 race when drawing off to win by four lengths over the good to firm ground. Bet down to 30 cents on the dollar, Gran Alegria perched in midfield as Christie (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}) set a demanding tempo. Beginning to make inroads toward the front inside the final...

Japanese Horse of the Year Almond Eye (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) made it seven Group 1 wins, after a tour-de-force in Sunday's G1 Victoria Mile at Tokyo. Now a "Win and You're In" for the GI Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf, the Victoria Mile was the second time the bay has won at the top level going 1600 metres since her win in the 2018 G1 Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas). It was four lengths back to Sound Chiara (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), who was a neck...