A look at Rushing Fall
When thinking about the Filly & Mare turf division in North America, names like Sistercharlie and Fourstar Crook come to mind, but a horse in Chad Brown’s barn that has been overlooked all year is 2017 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Rushing Fall. Being lightly raced has caused this 3 year old to fall into the shadows of the Filly & Mare turf division and with a 2018 record of 3-2-1-0 you won’t find Rushing Fall on any top 10 list of active horses, but she is a horse to keep your eyes this weekend.
Heading into the G1 QE II Challenge Cup this Saturday at Keeneland favorite Rushing Fall enters with a career record of 6-5-1-0 where she faces some familiar foes such as Capla Temptress who was 2nd to her in the G2 Lake Placid and Daddy is a Legend who has finished behind her on 4 different occasions. With a win Saturday, Rushing Fall would be a G1 winner at both 2 and 3 and would remain unbeaten over the Keeneland turf. While this field is not as deep as past years, Rushing Fall looks to prove why she is a serious Breeders Cup contender.
If Rushing Fall makes it to the starting gate in the 2018 Breeders Cup Filly & Mare Turf she does not have history on her side. Since the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf started in 2008 the only filly to ever win both the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and the Breeder’s Cup Filly & Mare Turf is Stephanie’s Kitten, but won them 4 years apart, winning the Juvenile in 2011 and the Filly & Mare turf in 2015. Along with Lady Eli, Stephanie’s Kitten make up the only 2 horses who have finished in the top 3 in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf who have went on to finish in the top 3 of the Breeder’s Cup Filly & Mare Turf. Another stat against Rushing Fall if she makes it to the Breeders Cup is that Churchill Downs is the site of her only career defeat. Yes it was only by a nose in a race where she did all the dirty work and got nailed at the wire by a closer, but a loss none the less.
Rushing Fall looks to be one of the handful 2017 Breeders Cup winners who is aiming to win a Breeders Cup race back to back years joining Roy H (Breeders Cup Sprint), Mendelssohn (Breeders Cup Classic), Battle of Midway (Breeders Cup Dirt Mile) and Talismanic (Breeders Cup Turf).
Can Rushing Fall win the Breeder’s Cup Filly & Mare Turf? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or tweet at us at @PicksByDynasty and @thedailygallop