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Nitrogen Rules the Distaff as the Fillies and Mares Take Their Turn in the Spotlight

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4 days ago

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Some championship races are wide open. The $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) is not one of them. Nine fillies and mares were pre-entered for the 1 1/8-mile test at Keeneland on Oct. 31, and the race runs through one towering presence: Nitrogen.

Trained by Mark Casse, the 4-year-old was last year’s champion 3-year-old filly and finished second in this race a year ago. This season she has been close to untouchable, dominating the Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1) by 12 3/4 lengths before stepping out of her division to finish a strong second behind Sovereignty against males in the Whitney Stakes (G1). A comfortable score in the Beldame Stakes (G2) served as her final tune-up.

The challengers bring real credentials. Fully Subscribed, winner of the Personal Ensign Stakes (G1) and the Spinster Stakes (G1) at Keeneland this month, is viewed as the main threat. Bob Baffert’s Splendora, who won last year’s Filly & Mare Sprint, has made the Distaff her first preference after three straight Grade 2 victories, and 2025 Juvenile Fillies champion Super Corredora could ship in from California off her Zenyatta Stakes (G2) win. The companion Filly & Mare Turf (G1) shapes up as a transatlantic duel between Juddmonte’s Blue Bolt, a winner of six straight for Andrew Balding, and Aidan O’Brien’s Precise, the Irish 1,000 Guineas (G1) and Coronation Stakes (G1) winner.

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Blink and You’ll Miss Them: Englishman, Shisospicy and Ways and Means Headline the Breeders’ Cup Sprints

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2 days ago

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October 23, 2026

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Championship Saturday at Keeneland will pause for breath exactly three times — and each pause lasts about a minute. The Breeders’ Cup’s sprint divisions, the Sprint (G1), the Turf Sprint (G1) and the Filly & Mare Sprint (G1), bring together the fastest horses in the world, and this year’s editions are loaded.

The $2 million Sprint drew 19 pre-entries and is expected to fill all 14 starting gates for the second straight year. The horse they all have to catch is Englishman, Cherie DeVaux’s 3-year-old sensation whose lone defeat came in the Pat Day Mile (G2) and who has otherwise dominated his generation in the Woody Stephens Stakes (G1) and H. Allen Jerkens Memorial (G1). He faces older horses for the first time, with T O Elvis and Forego Stakes (G1) winner Hymn — trained by Ron Moquett, who won this race at Keeneland in 2020 with Whitmore — among the dangers. Last year’s winner, Bentornato, is sidelined and will not defend his title.

On the grass, champion female sprinter Shisospicy returns to defend her Turf Sprint crown for Jose D’Angelo despite having raced only once since last year’s Breeders’ Cup, while the Filly & Mare Sprint revolves around Ways and Means, whose 5 1/2-length Ballerina Stakes (G1) romp on Aug. 29 makes her the standout as trainer Chad Brown chases a record fourth victory in the race.

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