Connections mull Elate’s Breeders’ Cup decision: Classic or Distaff?

Within the last week, horses like Maximum Security, Thunder Snow and Catholic Boy — seen as legitimate Breeders’ Cup Classic contenders should they arrive healthy on the day — suffered setbacks that figure to further thin out the Nov. 2 race’s prospective field.

Likewise, the connections of recent Grade 1 winners on the New York Circuit haven’t expressed too much interest in the Classic. The Travers Stakes hero Code of Honor could shorten up for the Cigar Mile (G1), and Woodward winner Preservationist may conclude his season with Saturday’s Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1).

Which all begs the question: Are they clearing the way for Elate to face the boys?

“We certainly wouldn’t rule it out knowing she appreciates the distance of the mile and a quarter,” trainer Bill Mott said this week. “But I don’t think anything’s set in stone. We’re much too far away from it. We’ve got that option until a week before the race.”

Elate, most recently a narrow second to Midnight Bisou in Saratoga’s Personal Ensign, is training toward Keeneland’s Oct. 6 Spinster (G1) as a final prep for a Nov. 2 championship race at Santa Anita Park.

Three starts ago, the 5-year-old daughter of Medaglia d’Oro earned a “Win and You’re In” trip to the Breeders’ Cup Distaff thanks to her victory in Churchill Downs’ Fleur de Lis (G2). Elate is also a back-to-back dominant winner of the Delaware Handicap (G2) at 10 furlongs, with cost of entry and travel well worth it if she's able to accomplish a historic feat.

Zenyatta, in 2009, remains the only filly or mare to win the Breeders' Cup Classic, a race that first ran in 1984.

“When it comes down to it, we’ve got to look at the whole situation — who’s going where, No. 1, and then I’ve got to pretend I’m a good handicapper and pick the right spot,” Mott quipped.

Most major Breeders’ Cup preps remain over the next two weekends, and they’ll factor in Mott’s decision for the Claiborne Farm and Adele B. Dilschneider homebred.

Midnight Bisou, who hasn’t lost this season, puts her record in the line Saturday in Belmont Park’s Beldame (G2). On that same card, Mott plans to send postward Yoshida and Tacitus in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1), an automatic qualifier for the Classic.

“It becomes a matter from the trainer’s point of view, I suppose, if you want to separate part of your stable,” Mott said should either of his male Classic hopefuls deserve a chance in the $6 million Classic.

While Midnight Bisou is the main Distaff competition when it comes to older fillies and mares, there are also the improving 3-year-olds to consider. Street Band looked like one when winning last Saturday’s Cotillion Stakes (G1), while Dunbar Road will appear in the Spinster.

Two seasons ago, when Elate was 3, she was that type of filly, winning the Beldame on her way to high consideration in the Distaff before running fourth. Elate missed the 2018 Breeders’ Cup — Mott had thrown out the possibility of facing males then, too — and now another Classic conundrum presents itself.

“All the consequences of going in there — it’s against the boys, and that’s a major consideration,” Mott said. “As far as the older females, I’d say we’re probably in the Top 2 in the country. You’re going to start getting some good 3-year-old fillies that come around toward the end of the year, and we’ve got to see who they are.”

The Hall of Fame trainer Mott owns two previous Breeders' Cup Classic victories, in 1995 with Cigar and 2011 with Drosselmeyer.