Oleksandra Works Toward Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint Bid

Oleksandra, away since winning the June 20 Jaipur Stakes (G1T) at Belmont Park, recorded her second breeze of the fall Oct. 7 when she worked a half-mile in :50.17 at Belmont toward a possible return in the Nov. 7 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) at Keeneland.

The homebred 6-year-old daughter of Animal Kingdom owned by Team Valor International spent the summer recuperating from a fractured left front split bone, an injury that Barry Irwin, the founder and CEO of Team Valor, believes occurred leaving the gate in the Jaipur when she was impeded by runner-up Kanthaka. Irwin said complications from laser therapy this summer and poor air quality near Santa Anita Park from California wildfires delayed her training.

Now back in New York, Oleksandra is advancing in her training, though Irwin and Hall of Fame trainer Neil Drysdale do not intend to press her to make the Breeders' Cup.

"We're planning on going for it," Irwin said. "(But) Drysdale and I are of the position that unless she thrills (jockey) Joel Rosario in her last two breezes, we're not going to run her. Drysdale thinks he can pull it off. I've seen him do some miracles. So I'm not going to say he can't do it, but it's not ideal."

The late-running mare has performed well after layoffs, winning two of three starts in the U.S. when out of action for three months or more. The Australian import made her stateside debut in October 2018 following a 10-month hiatus, captured an allowance-level race in May 2019 after a three-month break, and finished second to Jolie Olympica in the Monrovia Stakes (G2T) in her first race this year.

Oleksandra has won seven of 15 races, including three stakes, one of which came at Keeneland in the Buffalo Trace Franklin County (G3T) over the distance of the Turf Sprint.

Two of the past three winners of the Turf Sprint won after being unraced since the Jaipur in June. Stormy Liberal took the first of his two Turf Sprints in 2017 following an eighth-place finish in the Jaipur, and the mare Belvoir Bay captured the 2019 Turf Sprint after a fourth in the Jaipur. Peter Miller trained both.

Drysdale is a six-time Breeders' Cup winner whose last victory came in the Mile (G1T) with War Chant in 2000.

Team Valor also has a Breeders' Cup victory, taking the Juvenile Turf (G2T) with the Todd Pletcher-trained Pluck in 2010.

Irwin's partnership, Clover Racing Stables, which became Team Valor, also won the 1989 Turf (G1T) with Prized, a horse co-owned by Meadowbrook Farms. Drysdale trained the colt, who won the Turf in his first race on grass.

Regardless of whether Oleksandra runs in the Breeders' Cup, a trip to Keeneland is in her future. She sells as a racing or broodmare prospect in the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. Part of the Bluewater Sales consignment, she is Hip 81 on the sale's first day, Nov. 9.

"She's getting up there in age," Irwin said. "She's still attractive and valuable, and I think if we go another season, we could lose some value and we don't want to do that."

Just as Oleksandra has pleased racegoers with a unique, deep-closing style for a grass sprinter, Irwin expects her to be well received at the sale.

"She's such a good-looking horse. She's just got that extra oomph," he said. 

Oleksandra, who wasn't an original Breeders' Cup nominee in her native Australia, was made a horses of racing age nomination this summer. She was one of 15 horses to capitalize on the discounted early summer nomination period that closed Aug. 15, most of whom were 2-year-olds, according to Breeders' Cup executive vice president and chief racing officer Dora Delgado.

Oleksandra's win in the Jaipur, a Breeders' Cup Challenge race, provided her fees-paid berth in the Turf Sprint, her summer nomination notwithstanding.

Starship Jubilee, the 2019 Canadian Horse of the Year and the winner of this year's Ricoh Woodbine Mile Stakes (G1T), was another prominent summer Breeders' Cup nominee. She is a qualifier for the Nov. 7 FanDuel Mile Presented by PDJF (G1T).