By Heather Anderson
Cheveley Park Stud homebred INSPIRAL (GB) (Frankel {GB}–Starscope {GB}, by Selkirk) became the first Breeders' Cup winner for her Juddmonte sire with a narrow victory over dual Group 1 winner Warm Heart (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the $2-million GI Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf on Saturday. It was the second win in the race for Cheveley Park's Thompson family, who also took the 2016 edition with Queen's Trust (GB) (Dansili {GB}).
One of the back-markers crossing the dirt in the 1 1/4-mile contest, the 5-2 favorite found plenty of friendly cover in the master hands of Frankie Dettori who was looking for his 15th Breeders' Cup success. Glued to the rail into the clubhouse turn behind a half-mile in :46.90 as four-time Grade I winner and last year's runner-up 'TDN Rising Star' In Italian (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) showed the way, the filly was in a good rhythm on the backstretch. Creeping closer on the far turn, Dettori shook his filly up at the quarter pole and she produced a killer burst of speed to win coming over the top of the field in the lane to just pip stretch leader Warm Heart, who had saved all the ground, by a neck in the final two jumps. The Coolmore runner was a length better than the remainder. 2022 Canadian Horse of the Year Moira (Ghostzapper) just nosed out G1 Hong Kong Vase heroine Win Marilyn (Jpn) (Screen Hero {Jpn}) for third.
Dettori, who will not be retiring as originally planned and has instead relocated to the Southern California jockeys' colony, said, “She jumped good. I got squeezed out [after the break]. I really wanted to be where William [Buick on With The Moonlight (Ire) (Frankel {GB})] was, but he got there before me.
“She needs a quarter of a mile to get really in top gear. She was flying. For the team, this was always the plan. Give credit to everyone — John, Thady, and the Cheveley Park team that supplemented for this race. Coming in here this week, I thought she's my best ride, and she proved me right.”
Said John Gosden, “They [Cheveley] bred her, and the whole team there with Richard Thompson here, Patricia's son, it's a wonderful achievement for them.”
Added Cheveley's Richard Thompson, “This is such a special feeling, obviously, winning the Breeders' Cup with Inspiral. Chris is sitting next to me here. He runs the stuff for us, the family, my mother, et cetera. To have a homebred filly win the Breeders' Cup is just–six in Group 1, it's the pinnacle of everything we strive for at Cheveley, to breed a filly like this.”
Said Cheveley Park Stud's manager director Chris Richardson, “Pleased to say she stays in training, which is very exciting. I think her last performance in the Sun Chariot S. at Newmarket was one of the most impressive up until today.
“John has done a magnificent job in getting the filly, who is quite a high-strung filly — always has been, ever since she was a foal — to perform today at the highest level is a huge accolade to Patricia Thompson and the Thompson family.”
Unbeatable as a juvenile and named the Cartier Champion 2-Year-Old Filly after four victories by a combined 11 1/4 lengths including the G1 Fillies' Mile, Inspiral picked up right where she left off with another Group 1 victory, this time in Royal Ascot's Coronation S. in June of 2022. Second in the G1 Falmouth S. last July, she claimed her first of two G1 Prix Jacques Le Marois in France in August. At year's end, she became only the third filly to also be named the Cartier Champion 3-Year-Old Filly. This term, Inspiral missed in the G1 Queen Anne S. by a neck in June, and resumed with another Prix Jacques Le Marois score in August. Most recently, she landed the G1 Sun Chariot S. at Newbury on Oct. 7. Saturday's contest was her first start beyond a mile. Earlier in the day, the Cheveley colors had been borne by Regal Jubilee (GB) (Frankel {GB}) to victory in the Listed Montrose Fillies' S. at Newmarket.
Already a five-time Group 1 winner, the filly had been due to run on QIPCO British Champions Day last month, but the heavy ground put paid to that plan. Next year's Breeders' Cup at Del Mar is a possibility, as well.
Added Gosden, who trains with his son Thady, “She was poising for the Queen Elizabeth II S. at Ascot, but the rain arrived, and the terrain came too deep. She was in the race and we didn't even declare her to run. We said, right, we're coming here.
“The way she came and finished and the way she galloped out, she's probably saying that the trainer has been running her over the wrong distance the last year.
“Whether you go for the like of the [G1] Lockinge or the Queen Anne or she's meant to stay in training. I could see the [G1] Juddmonte International being a very key race for her next year. I think, if she's in great order next year, there will be no question but to consider Del Mar very seriously. Particularly since the trainer and his wife love coming back to California.”
Pedigree Notes:
Through the Filly & Mare Turf, Juddmonte's Frankel has only had five Breeders' Cup starters. She is one of his most decorated progeny, however, and one of 33 top-tier winners. With her victory on Saturday, she is tied with Frankel's 2022 G1 Prix de l'Arc de Tromphe winner Alpinista (GB) for most top-drawer victories at six.
Runner-up in the G1 1000 Guineas and G1 Coronation S. in the Cheveley red-white-and-blue, Inspiral's dam Starscope is a half-sister to listed winner Solar Magic (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) and has also foaled the stakes-placed Celestran (GB) (Dansili {GB}). Starscope's Ulysses (Ire) yearling colt brought 160,000gns from Stetchworth and Middle Park Studs out of Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale and has since been named Stetchworth Friend (GB). Her winning 8-year-old daughter Lunar Corona (GB) (Dansili {GB}) will be consigned by Cheveley in foal to Twilight Son (GB) (lot 1431) as part of the Tattersalls December Mares Sale next month.
Third dam Mystic Goddess, who won the Listed Sweet Solera S. and was placed thrice in Group 3s, is a half-sister to Italian champion and Group 1 winner Sanam (Golden Act), while she threw two-time Group 1 winner and eventual Cheveley Park stallion Medicean (GB) to the cover of Machiavellian. The Thompsons first got involved with the female family when they purchased Inspiral's fourth dam Rose Goddess (Ire) (Sassafras {Fr}) for $450,000 out of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale carrying to Diesis (GB) in 1988.
Saturday, Santa Anita Park
MAKER'S MARK BREEDERS' CUP FILLY & MARE TURF-GI, $1,840,000, Santa Anita, 11-4, 3yo/up, f/m, 1 1/4mT, 1:59.06, fm.
1–INSPIRAL (GB), 124, f, 4, by Frankel (GB)
1st Dam: Starscope (GB) (MG1SP-Eng, $251,626), by Selkirk
2nd Dam: Moon Goddess (GB), by Rainbow Quest
3rd Dam: Mystic Goddess, by Storm Bird
O/B-Cheveley Park Stud Limited (GB); T-John H. M. Gosden; J-Lanfranco Dettori. $1,040,000. Lifetime Record: MG1SW-Eng, MG1SW-Fr, 13-9-2-0, $3,639,932. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Warm Heart (Ire), 120, f, 3, by Galileo (Ire)
1st Dam: Sea Siren (Aus) (Hwt. Older Mare-Ire- at 5 – 7 f., MG1SW-Aus, SW & MGSP-Ire, $1,743,772), by Fastnet Rock (Aus)
2nd Dam: Express A Smile (Aus), by Success Express
3rd Dam: Hold That Smile (Aus), by Haulpak (Aus)
O-Westerberg, Mrs. John Magnier, Derrick Smith and Michael Tabor; B-Coolmore (IRE); T-Aidan P. O'Brien. $340,000.
3–Moira, 124, f, 4, by Ghostzapper
1st Dam: Devine Aida (MSW & GSP, $273,215), by Unbridled's Song
2nd Dam: Passion, by Came Home
3rd Dam: Rajmata, by Known Fact
($150,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Madaket Stables LLC, SF Racing LLC and X-Men Racing; B-Adena Springs (ON); T-Kevin Attard. $180,000.
Margins: NK, 1, NO. Odds: 2.50, 4.20, 13.50.
Also Ran: Win Marilyn (Jpn), In Italian (GB), Lumiere Rock (Ire), With The Moonlight (Ire), Lindy (Fr), State Occasion (GB), Didia (Arg), Fev Rover (Ire), McKulick (GB).
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
REPLAY: Inspiral (GB) wins the $2 Million @MakersMark #BreedersCup Filly & Mare Turf! Congrats to her connections! #BC23 pic.twitter.com/CmTKJupCj9
— Breeders' Cup (@BreedersCup) November 4, 2023
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