Zipse: Breeders’ Cup Distaff anticipation bubbles to a boil

The 2023 edition of the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita produced a thrilling finish with the top five finishers separated by a mere 1 1/4 lengths at the wire.

This year’s edition at Del Mar is shaping up to be even better.

Led by the fantastic foursome of Adare Manor, Idiomatic, Randomized and Thorpedo Anna, there is no Breeders’ Cup race I am looking forward to more at this year's world championships than the $2 million Distaff.

The champion Idiomatic deserves top billing at this point as she looks to repeat her success from last year. Trained by Brad Cox, the Curlin mare did not have it easy in winning her first attempt at the Distaff, but she proved her toughness and class by fending off challenges from all around her down the stretch.

Earning her most important career victory at Santa Anita was plenty enough to make Idiomatic the champion older dirt female of 2023. The victory crowned a season which also included Grade 1 victories in the Spinster at Keeneland and the Personal Ensign at Saratoga as well as three other stakes races. Overall, Idiomatic won eight times in nine starts in her championship season.

Picking up where she left off, Idiomatic looked prime to defend her Eclipse Award this year when she made her seasonal debut in the La Troienne (G1) on Kentucky Oaks day at Churchill Downs. Frolicking on the sloppy going, the champion stalked, pounced and pulled away late to score by nearly four lengths.

Things have been more of a challenge in her last two.

Facing both a wide trip and the filly who gave her a stiff test in last year’s Distaff, Idiomatic had a six-race winning streak broken when she was second by a head to Randomized in Saratoga’s Ogden Phipps (G1) on Belmont Stakes day. In hopes of starting a new winning streak, she returned to her winning ways last time by gamely turning back a big performance by Soul of an Angel in the Molly Pitcher (G3) at Monmouth Park.

It would come as no surprise if youth were served in this year’s running as Thorpedo Anna has been a scintillating force since she first stepped onto the track for race day just over nine months ago. A very promising 2-year-old last season with two romping wins and a second-place finish in the Golden Rod Stakes (G2), the Kenny McPeek-trained miss has taken things up to a whole new and exciting level this year.

Her sophomore season began at Oaklawn Park for the $750,000 Fantasy Stakes (G2). Looking ready to pounce at any time, the Grizzly Bear, as McPeek calls her, effortlessly dispatched her rivals with striking ease. Next came the Kentucky Oaks (G1), where a 14-horse field and a sloppy track offered little concern for Thorpedo Anna. Pressed through fast fractions, she cruised away from her competition down the Churchill Downs stretch.

In what we now can call preps for the big one, Thorpedo Anna did more of the same in a pair of Grade 1 races at Saratoga. In the Acorn she threw a shoe before rolling home an effortless winner. Then in the Coaching Club American Oaks she broke badly before romping home in front of an appreciative crowd.

So dominant against other sophomore fillies this season, her connections have decided to give the daughter of Fast Anna a real test in her next one. Expected to face the top 3-year-old males in the land in the $1.25 million Travers Stakes (G1) on Aug. 24, Saratoga’s mid-summer derby is shaping up to be a blockbuster, and Thorpedo Anna is a big reason why.

Certainly the best 3-year-old filly of the second half of last year was the plucky runner-up in last year’s Distaff. The speedy Randomized saw her three-race winning streak snapped when she lost to Idiomatic by a half-length, but the valiant defeat only proved how good the daughter of Nyquist had become.

A late bloomer on the national scene at 3, Randomized turned up the heat last summer for trainer Chad Brown. A facile winner of the Wilton Stakes at Saratoga in her fourth career start, the bay filly entered the 2023 Alabama a relative unknown. When it was over she had announced herself a budding star.

The gate-to-wire, four-length romp in that Grade 1 test began a three-race stretch of top-quality performances which almost won her a championship. An easy, front-running score in the Beldame (G2) at Aqueduct set her up for her brave second in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. As was the case last season, Randomized is gearing up for a big second half in 2024.

Far from an unknown this time around, she began her season in May by running second in the Ruffian (G2) at Aqueduct. Returning to the site of her biggest win in 2023, she got the job done at the Spa once again when she would not let Idiomatic by in the Ogden Phipps. Round 3 of the rivalry is expected to happen in the Personal Ensign (G1) on Aug. 23 at Saratoga.

Last, but not least, is Adare Manor. While Idiomatic, Thorpedo Anna and Randomized all reside in the eastern half of the United States, this Uncle Mo mare is all about the West Coast. That fact did not help her last season when she finished out of the money and three lengths behind Idiomatic in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. This year could be different.

A graded-stakes winner early in her sophomore season, Adare Manor has always demonstrated talent, but now, well into her 5-year-old season, the Bob Baffert-trained runner is better than ever. That fact was put into focus Saturday at Del Mar when, shuffled back early, she was able to show a new dimension by rallying powerfully down the stretch to win the Clement Hirsch Stakes going away.

Not only was it the second straight win in the Grade 1 race at the host of this year’s Breeders’ Cup, but it also was her third impressive victory in a row this year. After a second-place finish in the Beholder Mile (G1) to start her 2024, Adare Manor rattled off romping scores in the Apple Blossom (G1) at Oaklawn and the Santa Margarita (G2) at Santa Anita.

Although she already has won 10 times in 18 career races, Saturday’s win in the Hirsch showed something. Being able to overcome a less-than-ideal trip and easily run down a talented filly like Scylla was impressive. Three months out Adare Manor looks like a legitimate threat this year.

With the older rivals Idiomatic and Randomized, the sensational 3-year-old talent Thorpedo Anna and the West Coast powerhouse Adare Manor all in top form and leading the way, this year’s nine-furlong Breeders’ Cup Distaff promises to be a race to remember.