Two Kentucky trainers to face off in a highly anticipated Breeders’ Cup Distaff
READ MORE
2020 Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of the 2020 Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington.
Expand All
Kenny McPeek remembers a conversation a few years back at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas where fellow trainer Brad Cox was asking what he needed to do to move up the horse racing ladder.
“He and I had a brief talk about the quality of the horses he needs and he needed to get better horses,” McPeek said Monday. “Well, he’s certainly done that.”
He’s done it to the point where the two Kentuckians figure prominently in the most anticipated showdown at the Breeders’ Cup World Championships when Cox’s Monomoy Girl and McPeek’s Swiss Skydiver face off in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Saturday at Keeneland.
Winner of the 2018 Distaff, the 5-year-old Monomoy Girl is the 8-5 favorite. Winner of the Preakness back in October, the 3-year-old Swiss Skydiver is the 2-1 second-choice.
“I saw (Swiss Skydiver) gallop this morning,” Cox said earlier in the week. “She looked fantastic.”
“(Monomoy Girl) Is definitely the one to beat,” McPeek said.
McPeek is from Lexington. Cox is from Louisville. McPeek is 58 years old. Cox is 40. McPeek has won three Triple Crown races but is 0-for-31 in the Breeders’ Cup. Cox has won three Breeders’ Cup races, but is looking for his first Triple Crown victory. McPeek has five horses running in this weekend’s Breeders’ Cup, including the 5-2 Juvenile Fillies co-favorite in Simply Ravishing. Cox has eight horses running this weekend, seven of which are single digits in the morning line.
Saturday is expected to be the final start for Monomoy Girl, owned by Monomoy Stables, Michael Dubb, the Elkstone Group and Bethlehem Stables. The daughter of Tapizar has won 12 of her 14 races. She won the Ashland Stakes, Kentucky Oaks, Acorn and Coaching Club American Oaks on the way to winning the Distaff in 2018.
A bad case of colic, followed by a pulled gluteal muscle sidelined Monomoy Girl in 2019. She returned from an 18-month layoff to win an allowance race at Churchill Downs on May 16, followed by victories in the Grade 2 Ruffian at Belmont on July 11 and the Grade 1 La Troienne at Churchill on Sept. 4.
“We considered the Spinster (Oct. 4 at Keeneland), but thought the timing was better to go right into the Breeders’ Cup,” Cox said Monday. “We’ve spaced her races and she’s working well, so we’ve been able to stay with the same pattern.”
Swiss Skydiver has had a spectacular 2020, winning the Gulfstream Parks Oaks and the Santa Anita Oaks before finishing second when she went up against the boys in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on July 11. She won the Alabama Stakes and finished second in the Kentucky Oaks before beating the boys in the Preakness.
“She’s danced a lot of dances,” Cox said of Swiss Skydiver, whose 11 career starts have come on nine different tracks. “She was spectacular in the Preakness. That’s a race you’ll never forget.”
Since that conversation with McPeek at Oaklawn, Cox has been pretty spectacular himself. His stable earned $17.6 million in 2019. He’s up to 15 career Grade 1 winners, including this year’s Kentucky Oaks when Shedaresthedevil beat Swiss Skydiver.
“There’s no doubt when you’re working all day, every day and struggling to find good horses you wonder,” Cox said Monday. “We had good horses, just not Breeders’ Cup horses or Derby horses. I thought we could play on the Grade 1 level, we just needed horsepower.”
A six-time Grade 1 winner, Monomoy Girl could become the fourth to win the Distaff twice, following Bayakoa (1989, ‘90), Royal Delta (2011, ‘12) and Beholder (2013, ‘16). She is scheduled to be sold Sunday at Fasig-Tipton.
Meanwhile, after Swiss Skydiver’s win in the Preakness, McPeek briefly considered entering the daughter of Daredevil in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, but settled on the Distaff.
“She’s going to get a real good chance to show how good is she is facing the older fillies,” the trainer said Monday.
One in particular.
Said McPeek. “It’s going to be a great race.”
This story was originally published November 5, 2020 at 12:13 PM.
