The 38e The Breeders’ Cup World Championships in Del Mar lived up to expectations in many ways. The year before, fans were banned from attending the Breeders’ Cup in Keeneland due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the crowd that packed the 2021 event in picturesque Del Mar, California, was more than ready to celebrate when NBC Sports captured the festivities. As for the level of talent on the track, several races were absolutely filled with top class competitors – and the $2 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff was one of them.
The Distaff consisted of a field of 11 horses, including five Grade/Group 1 winners and five Grade 2 winners, headlined by a pair of fillies who would go on to become Champion Older Foul Female and Champion 3-Year-Old Filly respectively at the Eclipse Awards in Letruska and Malathaat. The only entry in the field without a rankings or group stakes victory was, appropriately, a long shot of 30-1 on the morning line.
Five-year-old Marche Lorraine shipped from Japan to Del Mar with a solid racing record of eight wins in 20 career starts, four of which came in stakes races. However, all of her stakes wins came at second-tier tracks in her home country and were not categorized in the same racing class as the stakes at tracks like Tokyo or Hanshin – and the competition at those major tracks in Japan was and is considered inferior to the top dirt racing tracks in the US. That made the daughter of Japanese Triple Crown winner Orfevre an afterthought for most bettors, especially compared to stablemate Loves Only You, the 2019 Japanese Oaks winner who also shipped to Del Mar as one of the favorites for the Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
Both fillies were trained by Yoshito Yahagi, who had enjoyed success in his home country with victories in the Japanese Derby, Japanese St. Leger and numerous other top races, but was a complete unknown in the US. However, after a spectacular Saturday in Del Mar, the neatly attired Yahagi and his translated expressions of gratitude would be one of the lasting memories of the 2021 Breeders’ Cup.
It started in Race 7, when Loves Only You won a thrilling extra-time over the Maker’s Mark Filly and Mare Turf by half a length as the 4.30-1 second betting choice and a crowd of Japanese connections circled the winner’s circle. Three races later the field went to post in the Distaff, with Letruska favored at odds of 1.70-1, Malathaat the second betting choice at 3.60-1, and US-based Royal Flag and Shedaresthedevil backed at 5-1 and 8.40-1 respectively. Marche Lorraine, meanwhile, was an outsider at 49.90-1 when the gate opened and had the third longest chances in the field. Irish jockey Oisin Murphy was aboard Marche Lorraine for the first time after riding several of Yahagi’s horses abroad, and the champion jockey in Britain was looking for his first Breeders’ Cup win after ten previous appearances without hitting the board.
California-based Grade 2 winner Private Mission took the early lead from the trackpost position, and Letruska – who entered the race having won four different stakes in a row and led at each point – raced right behind her as the field made its way through the first turn of the 1 1/8-mile Distaff. The first quarter mile went in :21.84 and the half in :44.97, a huge fraction even for elite caliber horses, and neither front runner slowed as they reached the six-furlong mark in 1:09.70, with Letruska running alongside Private Mission. Marche Lorraine was ten lengths behind the leaders at the half mile, but she and the rest of the field were about to take advantage of that suicidal pace, and the racing scenario changed dramatically at the second corner.
Shedaresthedevil, winner of the 2020 Longines Kentucky Oaks, was the first to move from her stalking spot, and she took the lead on the turn but was soon joined by Royal Flag to her outside and, splitting that pair, a runner few expected would be a factor.
Marche Lorraine took command at the quarter pole and was ridden hard by Murphy in a dramatic ride as she swung about five paths wide from the rail. Royal Flag floated six wide, and Grade 1 winner Clairiere edged even further out. Class 2 winners Dunbar Road and Malathaat both entered the battle on the inside and with less than 100 meters to go Dunbar Road took the lead by a few steps under Jose Ortiz. But Marche Lorraine just wouldn’t give up, and when the photo finish was posted, she had prevailed by a nose and scored one of the biggest upsets in Breeders’ Cup history.
“I tried to ignore her chances and just give her every chance in the run and hopefully she could finish it,” Murphy said Blood horse. “And to be honest, we were clearly hostages to fortune. I was sitting in the back, and… [the leaders] went quite quickly. We needed them for that, but it was a fantastic performance.”
If possible, an even more joyful group of Japanese connections than earlier in the day gathered in Del Mar’s winner’s circle after Marche Lorraine’s victory. Her win combined with the triumph of Loves Only You confirmed Japan’s rise the story of the 2021 World Championships when they became the first two horses in that country to achieve victories in the Breeders’ Cup (the Japanese-bred Karakontie, who won the Breeders’ Cup Mile in 2014, raced in Europe). Marche Lorraine made another start in early 2022, finishing sixth in the $20 million Saudi Cup, then retired to Northern Farm in Japan, her birthplace, to begin her broodmare career.
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