The $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) drew a talented field of nine, but with the last-minute scratch of Scottish Lassie, eight are set to head to the gate to race the 1 1/8 miles over Keeneland’s main track.
The Distaff, race 10 on Champions Saturday at the 43rd Breeders' Cup, has a post time of 4:58 p.m. ET (NBC, Peacock).
This year is an especially unique one in that two previous Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) winners and 2-year-old filly champions – 2024’s winner Immersive and last year’s victor Super Corredora – will face each other for not only a win, but perhaps some bragging rights.
But first, both will need to get past division leader Nitrogen and a couple of other highly regarded distaffers.
Nitrogen, the 3-year-old champion filly, is the 6-5 morning-line favorite a year after she ran second to Scylla in the Distaff. The 4-year-old daughter of recently deceased Medaglia d'Oro, has never finished worse than third in 18 career starts with nine victories.
Trained by Mark Casse, Nitrogen comes in off a solid 2026 campaign that includes a Grade 1 win and a respectable second against the boys in the Whitney Stakes (G1). She has set the pace in her recent races but can also stalk depending on how the pace of the race sets up, and her high speed figures and race record make her the one to beat.
Jose Ortiz has the call on Nitrogen, who has not won at this distance on Keeneland’s main track (she was second in last year’s Spinster) and faces a deeper older-mare field than in some of her dominant performances.
Lightly raced Fully Subscribed (8-5), by Tiz the Law, is as consistent as they come having never finished worse than third in her career. Her current form is also exceptional as she’s riding a nice three race win skein heading into the Breeders’ Cup, wins including the Personal Ensign Stakes (G1) and Spinster Stakes (G1) last out.
Trainer Chad Brown is high on her chances and a rematch with Nitrogen, who beat Fully Subscribed earlier this year.
“She threw one race in there this year that was subpar, that 12-length loss to Nitrogen, where she just wasn’t herself in the stretch there,” Brown said. “I’m not saying she should have won there, but she shouldn’t have been beaten 11 lengths to her. I have no excuse for it, but I will say that there is not that much difference between these two fillies.
"She came back and trained super and has run some outstanding races, back-to-back. I have her right where I want her right now.”
She’s a stalker who will get the pace she likes to sit off, and if she can hold off the charge from closing rivals under Flavien Prat, she is dangerous for the win at what may be a square price for her.
Splendora (9-2), last year’s Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) winner, will have Tyler Gaffalione aboard and can either set the pace or sit right behind it and press. The Audible filly, trained by Bob Baffert, stretched out to routes this year with some significant success, winning five of six starts including two Grade 1s, though a winner at 8 ½ furlongs in her last start she has yet to conquer the 9-furlong distance.
Her 5 ¼-length gate-to-wire win in the Locust Grove Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs was impressive, as are the figures she earned from the effort, but she’s going to have to show she’s really a router against the best of this division.
“I was hoping that Nitrogen was going to use [the Locust Grove] as a prep,” Baffert said. “We would have liked to run against her there to see if we should go short or long. We are going to find out the hard way.”
Last year’s top 2-year-old filly Super Corredora (15-1) has struggled this year but rebounded to qualify by taking the Zenyatta Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita a month ago. The John Sadler trainee, who will be ridden by Joel Rosario, is a pacesetter and will attempt to use her speed as her weapon, her middle post hopefully allowing her to gain good early position after a good break.
She will need a career-best effort against this field and will have company on the front end, but it’s hard to look away from a champion in these big events.
Regaled (20-1), who is by Mohaymen, is a confirmed closer coming off a nice win in the Delaware Handicap (G3) last out, a race she also won last year. As a confirmed closer, she has ability to descend on a hot pace as she did to finish third in last year’s Distaff.
Despite that finish, she has modest graded stakes form outside of her preferred conditions and needs the right setup, but the Whit Beckman trainee has shown she can be part of any exotics picture with her best. Regular jockey Joe Ramos will be back aboard.
“Our target all along had been the Delaware Handicap, and that will hopefully set us up for a repeat performance of her performance last year in the Distaff, where she ran a closing third on a track that wasn’t really conducive to her style of running.”
Three-year-old Measure (20-1) is another closer needing a hot pace to be effective. The daughter of Essential Quality, who is trained by Mark Casse, has posted solid Grade 1 placings against 3-year-old fillies this year, but she has yet to win a stakes race and her overall competition level, as well as speed figures relative to the top contenders here, make her a tough bet. She is a good exotics candidate, however, and has a running style that could benefit from early speed. Manny Franco rides.
It’s hard to imagine that a Breeders’ Cup winner and champion like Immersive (30-1) would be such long odds, but here we are. The Nyquist filly, who is trained by Brad Cox, had a light 2025 and came back this year with a win, a couple seconds and a couple thirds from five starts, including the Fleur de Lis Stakes (G2) win over the summer at Churchill Downs. Junior Alvarado will be aboard this stalker, who surely needs her best to be competitive and reverse the form she showed in her disappointing last-place finish (of three) in the Spinster.
“It was OK,” Cox said of the Spinster effort. “It didn’t really work out as well as we hoped, but she did come out in good order. We kept her right here [at Keeneland]. Her last two runs have been OK. She needs to move forward. I think some things are going to have to happen. We’re going to have to have some racing luck, and maybe some other people not have as much racing luck for us to get it done. But she’s doing well.”
Eunomia (30-1) won the Clement L. Hirsch Stakes (G1) at Del Mar over the summer to qualify for the Breeders’ Cup and has been off since. The Saffie Joseph, Jr. trainee, who will be ridden by Micah Husbands, typically presses the pace and will more than likely have a solid one in front of her. The Tiz the Law filly owns a good Keeneland main-track record with multiple wins and before her mini layoff was showing some class improvement. Her outside draw isn’t ideal, but a top effort makes her a must-use on an exotics ticket.
1 Immersive (Junior Alvarado, Brad Cox), 30-1
2 Nitrogen (Jose Ortiz, Mark Casse), 6-5
3 Regaled (Joe Ramos, Whit Beckman), 20-1
4 Fully Subscribed (Flavien Prat, Chad Brown), 8-5
5 Scottish Lassie – Scratched
6 Measure (Manny Franco, Mark Casse), 20-1
7 Super Corredora (Joel Rosario, John Sadler), 15-1
8 Splendora (Tyler Gaffalione, Bob Baffert), 9-2
9 Eunomia (Micah Husbands, Saffie Joseph, Jr.), 30-1
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
