Meandre in France and Orfevre in Japan earn Automatic Berths into Breeders' Cup Turf
NEW YORK (June 24, 2012) – Two more qualifiers for the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf (GI) were added today through the Breeders’ Cup Challenge series as the 4-year-old Meandre (FR) won the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (G1) in France and 2011 Japanese Triple Crown winner Orfevre (JPN) won the Takarazuka Kinen (G1) at Hanshin Racecourse.
The Breeders’ Cup Challenge is a global series of 73 stakes races whose winners earn automatic starting positions into the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, which will be held at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., on November 2-3.
In addition to the automatic berths into the Turf, if Meandre and Orfevre are nominated to the Breeders’ Cup program by Oct. 22, Breeders’ Cup Limited will pay the entry fees of both horses and provide their connections with a US$20,000 travel allowance to California for the Championships.
Meandre, a chestnut son of Slickly (FR), trained by Andre Fabre and ridden by Maxime Guyon, moved passed frontrunner Shareta (IRE) in the stretch to win by 1 1/2 lengths in the 1 1/2 mile Saint-Cloud over ground labeled as good to soft. Galikova (FR) finished third followed by last year’s Arc winner Danedream. Meandre, owned by the Rothschild Family, won last year’s Grand Prix de Paris (G1) and closed the season with a sixth place finish in the Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe. He was second last out in the La Coupe (G3) at Longchamp.
Earlier Sunday in Japan, the favored Orfevre, owned by Sunday Racing Co., dominated 15 rivals to win the in the 1 3/8 mile Takarazuka Kinen, winning by two lengths over Rulership (JPN). Trained by Yasutoshi Ikee and ridden by Kenichi Ikezoe, the 4-year-old son of Stay Gold won for the seventh time in 12 starts, following two defeats earlier this year.
Both Meandre and Orfevre join Al Qasr as the first three qualifiers for this year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf. As Qasr earned his “Win and You’re In” by capturing the Gran Premio 25 de Mayo at San Isidro Racecourse in Argentina last month.
Watch the Takarazuka Kinen replay:
The Breeders’ Cup Challenge series resumes next Saturday, June 30 at Betfair Hollywood Park in California with the Shoemaker Mile (G1) for an automatic starting position into the TVG Breeders’ Cup Mile on turf.
