BC Distaff – Grade I

1 1/8 Mile Dirt Stake Purse $2,000.000 3 Year Olds And Up Fillies and Mares.

Mb Stables saw to it that the Distaff mares jinx would last at least another year, and the race would continue to be dominated by youth as he sent out his lightly raced Wasted Away as second favourite to score a front-running three-quarter length victory over the six-year-old favourite Starting Over from TwinTowersRacing. A head back, those two were followed by a dead heat between Riggins Racing’s American Sky and Shining At Knight from Our Athletes. This was Mb Stable’s second win of the BC Distaff and very important because Dan does not like to see BC races in which he only won once. For jockey J R Velazquez, who was already jockey king of this race with wins going all the way to 2008, this was his fourth victorious ride.

1^st  Wasted Away

Owner: Mb Stables

As I mentioned in my preview, Wasted Away is a spectacular example of early success by marvelous machines, and she is just carrying on. I thought the big question for her would be how she would fare when she finally met older horses. Well, she fared right well, coming by the grandstand a close second and taking the lead by the Club House Turn and never looking back, despite the persistent challenge of the Grand Mistress Starting Over down the stretch. This win was her sixth in eleven starts. In fact, she has not been farther back the second in ten of eleven. This was her fourth grade one win, and now she can set her sights on the KY Oaks and all those lovely Oaks along the way. The grey three-year-old filly is by Fire N Fury out of Calescent bred by Luz International in Fla. Ironically Mb Stables received $20.000 as breeder of the stallion Fire N Fury, then had to pay $1,250.000 to purchase Wasted Away.

2^nd Starting Over

Owner: TwinTowersRacing

I really thought the old gal would win this year’s Distaff and break the jink by becoming the first mare over four years old to win. She laid back in tenth until the far turn, then started her run, and it was a beautiful sight to see. She was forced very wide into the stretch, probably wide enough to make the difference of the three-quarter length loss at the wire, flew toward the winner with a flock of closers, which included the two that dead heated for third and then she narrowly passed in the final strides. Starting Over is a bay six-year-old mare by Start The Car out of Im Over It bred by Axeman in Fla.

3^rd American Sky

Owner: Riggins Racing

Riggins Racing paid $200.000 for this horse last month with the express intention of getting in this race. I don’t know if he was in it for the money of just wanted a BC runner, but he got both, and she earned her purchase price back with this one race. I didn’t expect this performance and mentioned she would have to reach deep to challenge this level of competition, and that is exactly what she did as she laid seventh into the stretch with the big string of closers, let loose with a challenging finish and came within a length of winning the BC Distaff. American Sky is another older horse, so at least they gave the jinx a charge. In her 29 starts, she has only won two graded races. She is a five-year-old bay mare by Strategic Command out of Pure Panther bred by Broken Spoke Stables in Fla making a Fla Bred exacta.

3^rd Shining At Knight

Owner: Our Athletes

Here’s another with only two graded stakes wins in her career and a tragic loss as the favourite in the Spinster coming into this race that had most convinced that 34-1 was a bit generous, but she turned home in that closer pack and turned on the afterburners and made herself a factor is the BC Distaff. She got up to second, but American Sky was just closing faster and made it a dead heat for third. She certainly overcame the confusion of those last two coming into this race. She is a bay four-year-old filly by Our Dark Knight out of Sunday Dress homebred by the owner in Ky.

Categories: BC 2024, Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES, THE BREEDERS CUP