Monomoy Girl Back on Top, Wins Second Distaff

The horse of a lifetime gave her many connections a sweet parting gift Nov. 7 at Keeneland.

For the fans, it was the chance to follow champion Monomoy Girl through what may have been her final start, a showdown with the best of her division at the Breeders' Cup World Championships. Good racehorses don't often run on into their older years, but in her 5-year-old season, the daughter of Tapizar  delivered.

For her jockey, it was one last fleet-footed spin around the track—their 14th together—and Florent Geroux went powering home to victory in the $2 million Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) with a grateful heart.

For Liz Crow, it was resounding affirmation of the eye that spotted brilliance hidden in a $100,000 yearling who grew up to greatness—the one who took the bloodstock agent from fledgling to proven.

For her owners, it was a swan song that rewarded patience, a love of the game, and their trust in a trainer whose instincts were rewarded with the accomplishment of his career. 

In the aftermath of her 1 3/4-length score over Valiance in the 1 1/8-mile Distaff—her second Breeders' Cup score after a win in the 2018 edition—the Brad Cox trainee will ship Sunday to Fasig-Tipton in Lexington, where she will be offered by ELiTE as the headliner of the sales company's November breeding stock auction, appropriately billed as "Night of the Stars." Whether she will race on or transition to a new career as a broodmare remains to be seen, but her performance Saturday left no doubt where her brilliance is concerned.

While Lady Kate rushed to the front for an opening quarter in :23.11, Monomoy Girl settled kindly in hand while tracking fourth. Harvest Moon took over to show the way through a half in :46.03 and three-quarters in 1:09.94, but Monomoy Girl was looming four wide through the second turn and took over through a 1:34.86 mile before edging clear in the final furlong.

The final time was 1:47.84 on a fast track. Sent off as the even-money favorite in a 10-horse field, Monomoy Girl returned $4 on a $2 win ticket.

Valiance circled the pack with a five-wide move and kept on for the place. She was followed home by Dunbar Road, Harvest Moon, Ce Ce, Point of Honor, Preakness Stakes (G1) winner Swiss Skydiver, Ollie's Candy, Horologist, and Lady Kate. 

Jockey Robby Albarado said he was disappointed in Swiss Skydiver's seventh, but not with the Daredevil filly herself.

"She stumbled a little bit leaving there. It maybe cost her a little length or two position-wise, but it didn't cost us the win," Albarado said. "I had a great opportunity turning for home and get on through there and get heads-up with the champ, but she just didn't have it today.  

"I'm disappointed that we didn't win, but I'm not disappointed in her. What she has done in her career, she has never let anybody down, she hasn't disappointed anybody. The way she ran in the Preakness, she doesn't have to validate herself from here on out. She's a special filly and everybody knows her. She gets a little time now and will come back next year stronger."

For Geroux, the victory was a sweet conclusion to a four-year partnership that led to victory on the sport's greatest stage.

"What a mare, just exceptional," the jockey said. "She's a mare of a lifetime, very rare. It's like finding a diamond. When you have it, you do the best you can. It's a gift. Even after all she's been through, being off a year and a half, to come back and still be at the top of her game is unreal. I'm super thankful for the opportunity that Brad and the owners have given me." 

Cox brought the mare back from the sideline after she missed the entire 2019 season. First a bout of colic sent her to Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital for treatment and then to WinStar Farm for a lengthy recovery, then a gluteal strain caused her to miss a run in last year's Distaff. But her 2020 season was perfect as she took a May allowance-level event, the July 11 Ruffian Stakes (G2) at Belmont Park, the September 4 La Troienne Stakes Presented by Oak Grove Racing and Gaming (G1) at Churchill Downs, and the Distaff.

Watching his charge win Saturday, Cox felt the weight of the world lift from his shoulders. The victory put a cherry on the top of the trainer's remarkable four Breeders' Cup wins over the weekend, joined with Essential Quality in the TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (G1), Aunt Pearl in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T), and Knicks Go in the Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1).

"Honestly, it's a relief," he said. "She means the world to me, and it's a lot of pressure when we run her. I don't know why, it just is. It's been a long road back. She's a real racehorse. She's meant so much for so many people's lives. She's an amazing creature. I love her to pieces. 

"Words can't even describe it. I think she plays a big role in our other three Breeders' Cup victories over the weekend. She's meant so much to so many people's lives. She was my first grade 1 winner here at Keeneland. I'm just so proud of her."  

Stuart Grant, who owns Monomoy Girl through The Elkstone Group in partnership with Sol Kumin's Monomoy Stables, Michael Dubb, and Bethlehem Stables, said a passion for quality racing helped the connections keep the faith in their brilliant mare despite her physical setbacks last year.

"Obviously, she was a quality race mare at the time, after she finished her 3-year-old year, and after her 4-year-old year, I think most people would have packed it in," he said. "But we all love to race, and we said, 'If there's a way,' and Brad Cox said, 'Here's what I think,' and there was a whole team that put her back together again.

"We have a number of horses, but this one is the most special. The idea not only that she has all the grade 1 wins, two Breeders' Cups, an Eclipse Award—but she did it with an 18-month gap in between. You think about a professional athlete coming back from that kind of period of being off, it's just unbelievable.

"To maintain that level throughout her 3-year-old season, (win the Kentucky) Oaks (G1), Breeders' Cup, and then come back in her 5-year-old season and do what she's done at four different racetracks, is just unbelievable. 

"This is what the really, really special mares are all about."

"Brad Cox has been the master," Kumin added. "Just knowing when to push, knowing when to step back, managing her career, and he said to us before, her (La Troienne) win ... 'If I can get her back to winning a grade 1, this will be my biggest accomplishment as a trainer.' And she's obviously an incredibly important horse in his career, so we're really just happy to be part of it."

Monomoy Girl was bred in Kentucky by FPF and Highfield Ranch out of the Henny Hughes mare Drumette. She improved her record to 13 wins and two seconds from 15 starts with earnings of $4,426,818. Crow found her at the 2016 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, where her $100,000 price tag gave no indication of the seven grade 1 wins she would go on to achieve.

"That's one of the special things about a mare like Monomoy Girl," Grant said. "First of all, she was purchased at a price point that was mentioned where regular folks can get in. But the other nice thing is she's built such a following. People just love that mare. So it's not just our partnership, but it's this extended group that just has gotten so much joy out of her.

"And I think the other thing that really gives us, the ownership team, a lot of joy is not only did Monomoy Girl make her own career, but launched the career of Liz, launched the career of Brad, really, I mean Flo is great, but really established him also, and so she has just given so much to all of us, so much joy and really launched so many careers that she is just an extraordinary, once-in-a-lifetime horse."

Video: Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1)