Breeders' Cup: Mawj has 2 options after Saturday win

Trainer Saeed bin Suroor was traveling Sunday, but Mawj, his winner of the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup, was spending a quiet morning grazing outside Barn 11 the day after her front-running half-length victory in the 1 1/8-mile turf race at Keeneland.

Owned and bred by Godolphin, Mawj is headed next to Santa Anita for the Breeders’ Cup, with the Mile against males or the Filly and Mare Turf going 1 1/4 miles as her options for Nov. 4.

Her departure date from Keeneland is to be determined. Mawj gave bin Suroor his 500th grade or group victory and his second stakes win at Keeneland. His previous victory came with Hatta Fort for Godolphin in the 2008 Perryville (G3).

Mawj held off a late bid from Lindy to secure a second consecutive Grade or Group 1 victory after her score in the English One Thousand Guineas in May.

“She ran too good to lose,” trainer Brendan Walsh said of Lindy. “I’ll talk it over with the boys and come up with a plan for her.”

A half-length back of Lindy in third was Mission of Joy, who made a run at Mawj in the stretch but was passed late to be denied second.

“She probably will head back to Fair Hill (Training Center in Maryland) on Wednesday,” said Alice Clapham, assistant to trainer Graham Motion. “Everybody was happy with her and she couldn’t have run any better. And now she is Grade 1-placed.”

Elusive Princess, who finished fourth as the second choice in the field of nine, is scheduled to return to Fair Hill on Monday with plans to be determined, according to trainer Arnaud Delacour.