Zipse: Canada champion Moira is back in a big way

The narrative after the victory by Moira in Saturday’s Grade 2 Canadian Stakes at Woodbine may focus on how Canada’s reigning horse of the year won for the first time in just over a year, but that simple fact hardly paints the picture of how good this champion filly really is.

In one of the most impressive turf races run in North America in 2023, the daughter of Ghostzapper romped her way over a solid field of older turf fillies and mares to score by 6 1/4 emphatic lengths.

Not only did the champion announce herself as back on Saturday, but Moira also served warning that she should be primed and ready for a very big autumn, which is likely to culminate with the Breeders’ Cup in eight weeks at Santa Anita.

There are a myriad of reasons why good horses lose races, and Moira found many of them during a five-race winless streak. She certainly wasn’t running poorly in those losses, which included four second-place finishes and a fifth-place run in the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf, but she just wasn’t winning.

That all changed in the Canadian Stakes. Relaxed off a moderate early pace, Moira gained from the outside on the far turn and as the recent Grade 1 winner Fev Rover came to challenge the lead of Miss Dracarys, the second choice began to really roll. Swinging way wide for the stretch run, the Kevin Attard-trained 4-year-old was now in full flight.

Within a blink of the eye, Moira had taken the lead and was quickly driving clear. From there, it was just a matter of who would finish second behind the champion as she poured it on down the lane.

If the eye-popping victory wasn’t enough, a look at the time of the race further validated her performance. Not only did Moira run a sensational 1:46.04 for the nine furlongs over a turf course rated as good, but she did all this after being well behind early splits of 24.65 and 48.25 seconds.

Moira had devastated her competition by running the final five furlongs in 57 seconds despite swinging quite wide under rider Rafael Hernandez.

A year ago at this time, Moira was the talk of the town for owners X-Men Racing, Madaket Stables and SF Racing. Last summer she won the Woodbine Oaks by 10 3/4 lengths.

Clearly the best young filly in Canada, she followed that up with a seven-length dismantling of the males in the Queens’ Plate. She looked the part of a special 3-year-old filly who could come to the U.S. and run with our best.

Nothing went well for her in a roughly run E.P. Taylor (G1) last October. It was her first against older horses and despite being bottled up for much of the race, she was beaten by only a neck. Crying out for room, she finally made room for herself at the expense of other horses and was disqualified from second.

Following that disappointment, she fell too far back early in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf at Keeneland, and the 3-year-old Canadian filly could manage only a wide rally for fifth of 12.

The good news is Moira likely will get another shot at both. Next month it will be the E.P. Taylor, the race that started her five-race losing streak. After Saturday’s performance, I’d have to say that she will be the one to beat in the most important race for grass females in Canada.

A good performance in the E.P. Taylor will set her up for another try in the Breeders' Cup, this time in California.

Good horses sometimes lose, and Moira seems a perfect example of this. She has seen a little bit of everything in those five losses as far as poor racing luck but now has gotten over the hump. Saturday’s performance was outstanding, and her future once again looks very bright.

It’s a future that will offer a chance for redemption from last year, with the Oct. 8 E.P Taylor at Woodbine in her sights and then the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf at Santa Anita four weeks after that. The added distance of 1 1/4 miles in both will only help Moira’s chances.

It’s not often that you get a rewind in life, but that’s exactly what the champion will get in her next two important races. Back to her best, it’s now a matter of whether the 4-year-old version of Moira is good enough to beat the very best.