Seismic Beauty Aims to Continue Roll in BC Distaff

Seismic Beauty will aim to use a well-timed arrival at the top level when she faces an expected 13 rivals in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) Nov. 1 at Del Mar. The Distaff saw a dramatic change in the expected field when Horse of the Year and expected favorite Thorpedo Anna was retired from racing Oct. 15, 10 days after finishing fourth in the Spinster Stakes (G1) at Keeneland. Last year at Del Mar, Thorpedo Anna led the Distaff throughout and drew off to a 2 1/2-length victory. Following that decision to retire the seven-time grade 1 winner, the connections of the 14 fillies and mares entered in Saturday's 1 1/8-mile test certainly have to feel better about their chances. Not that several weren't already feeling pretty good. Owners MyRacehorse and Peter Leidel along with trainer Bob Baffert certainly fall in that category. Bred in Maryland by Determined Stud, Seismic Beauty enters off three straight wins by a combined 16 1/2 lengths in which she led at every point of call. While the speedy 4-year-old daughter of Uncle Mo didn't make her stakes debut until late May when she won the Santa Margarita Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita Park, she appears poised to deliver her top effort Saturday. Seismic Beauty won the Santa Margarita by 5 lengths and then after more than two months off returned with a front-end score in the Clement L. Hirsch Stakes (G1)—prepping at the site of this year's World Championships. After that latest effort in which she completed a half-mile in :46.63 and 6 furlongs in 1:10.32, Baffert noted that Seismic Beauty is not stealing these races with a slow early pace. "That wasn't an easy lead, they were rolling," said Baffert, who will seek his first Distaff win. "She's a big filly. She looks like she's going easy; but they were going fast. She's just getting better and better. She's still maturing but I think she'll improve off of that." Tim Baum, 72, of Vero Beach, Fla., is one of the owners with a microshare in Seismic Beauty through MyRacehorse. "You can just tell that this filly loves to run. She's like a machine," Baum told America's Best Racing after the Clement Hirsch. "When she works, they try to hold her back. You can just tell that she's a superstar. She just doesn't like any horse to be in front of her. She wants to be on the lead." While Seismic Beauty didn't make her stakes debut until age 4, 3-year-old Nitrogen started in a grade 1 race in her second start, finished third in a Breeders' Cup race in her third effort, and Saturday's race will be her 11th straight stakes try. Her big change has been in surface, as she finished third in last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T) and added four stakes wins on the grass this year before being switched to dirt by trainer Mark Casse. The daughter of Medaglia d'Oro enters the Distaff off a clear victory over other 3-year-old fillies in the Alabama Stakes (G1) in August at Saratoga Race Course and a close second against older fillies and mares in the Spinster. Those efforts followed the June 7 Wonder Again Stakes (G3) at Saratoga which Nitrogen won by 17 lengths after it was moved from the turf to dirt. Calumet Farm homebred Gin Gin, a 4-year-old daughter of Hightail, enters off an 18-1 upset win in the Spinster where she edged Nitrogen by a head to complete a gate-to-wire victory in that 1 1/8-mile test. Clicquot, campaigned by X-Men Racing, Madaket Stables, SF Racing, and Blue Horseshoe Racing and trained by Brendan Walsh, enters off a narrow victory over Dry Powder in the Cotillion Stakes (G1) Sept. 20 at Parx Racing. Dry Powder also is entered in the Distaff. The Cotillion victory extended Clicquot's win streak to four straight races and she'll try to follow in the path of Thorpedo Anna, who prepped in the 1 1/16-mile Cotillion ahead of her Distaff win last year. Clicquot, a daughter of Quality Road, will stretch out to 1 1/8 miles for the first time. The top returning Distaff runner from last year is Alice Verite (JPN), who finished fourth in the 2024 edition. She is joined by Argine (JPN) as one of two 5-year-old Japan-based runners entered and looking to follow in the path of Marche Lorraine (JPN) who upset the 2021 Distaff at Del Mar. This year's Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1) winner Dorth Vader will make her first start since finishing just a nose behind Thorpedo Anna when second in the Aug. 23 Personal Ensign Stakes (G1) at Saratoga. A homebred for John Ropes, Florida-bred Dorth Vader is a daughter of Girvin.