Sun Goddess Enters Breeders' Cup Pantheon With Win

A 3,700-mile trip to make the race, an added furlong for her race, and seeing turns for the first time proved no problem for Sun Goddess (IRE), who added a clear victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T) Oct. 30 at Keeneland to complete one of the greatest juvenile seasons of the 21st century. The victory is the fourth group 1 or grade 1 score for Sun Goddess, who also extended her win streak to six races over three countries. She is campaigned by the Coolmore-affiliated owners Derrick Smith, Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Westerberg and trained by Aidan O'Brien. "It's a life-changing experience for a lot of people when fillies like this come along," said Coolmore's M.V. Magnier. "It's special for everyone. We're just very lucky to have a group of lads and ladies that want to buy these horses and have them in training with Aidan and everything. It's a fantastic result." That outcome Friday proved something to see on a perfect fall day in Lexington. With Ryan Moore asking for a bit more than usual early in the race, Sun Goddess raced just behind front-running Seneca Park, who entered off a runner-up finish in the Jessamine Stakes (G2T) earlier this month at Keeneland. After Seneca Park completed 6 furlongs in 1:13.29, Moore asked Sun Goddess for her best and she delivered, seizing control of the 1-mile race in a seemingly effortless move. The daughter of Sioux Nation opened up 2 1/2 lengths on the field in midstretch and a late run from recent Prix Marcel Boussac-Criterium des Pouliches (G1) winner Green Empress (IRE) did not seriously threaten the winner, who registered a 3-length victory while completing the race in 1:36.10 on firm turf. Group 3 winner Curracloe earned her first group 1 placing by rallying for third in a race that saw European-trained runners land the top seven spots. Jockey Dylan McMonagle, who was aboard Green Empress, said he likely should have placed his runner closer to the pace as the field completed a half-mile in :48.83. She raced in sixth through the first half of the race. "It was a slow time," McMonagle said. "I was probably one spot too far back, but had to just deal with it. She's came home good and she's ran a cracker." Favored Sun Goddess paid $3.70, $2.88, and $2.42 across the board, while Green Empress, send off at 12-1, returned $7 and $5.28 to place and show, respectively. Sun Goddess' previous longest race had been 7 furlongs, a win in the Moyglare Stud Stakes (G1) in September, and all of her previous races had been straight sprints. "Going up to a mile here, she was very comfortable," said Moore, adding that the slow early pace dictated her early running position in second. "They felt way slower than what we would do normally on a Breeders' Cup mile race here." As if Sun Goddess needed any additional indication of her class ahead of Friday's race, Libertango (IRE) captured the day's opening Breeders' Cup race, the Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1T). In Sun Goddess' previous race, she defeated that one by a length in the 6-furlong Cheveley Park Stakes (G1) Sept. 26 at Newmarket Racecourse. O'Brien said Sun Goddess has been a natural and it hasn't mattered if the race is 6 furlongs, 7 furlongs, or a mile. Not only does she bring the class on the course, she carries it every moment of the day. In the days leading up to the Breeders' Cup, O'Brien said she doesn't walk, "she prowls." "She is unusual. And her movement is very unusual when you see the way she walks and trots and canters and does everything," O'Brien said. "As a physical specimen, she is very different." O'Brien said her conformation includes considerable scope that on first sight would have one think she'd be a better 3-year-old than 2-year-old. That's a scary thought for rivals. Sun Goddess is the early betting favorite for the 2027 One Thousand Guineas Stakes (G1). "I'd imagine she'll go through the winter and then be trained for the classics," O'Brien noted. The four top-level wins by Sun Goddess match the accomplishment of O'Brien's first Breeders' Cup winner Johannesburg, who successfully made the transfer from turf to dirt to win the 2001 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) at Belmont Park—his fourth top-level win in four different countries. Sun Goddess possesses a direct tie to that Coolmore legend as Johannesburg is the sire of Scat Daddy, who is the sire of Sioux Nation. After Friday's win, O'Brien said Sioux Nation is perhaps the most underrated sire in the world. The victory put O'Brien alone on top of the trainers list for Breeders' Cup wins ever so briefly as one race later Bob Baffert moved back in a tie with him with his 22nd win, when Hughes captured the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Then a race after that, O'Brien moved back to the lead when Kentucky-bred Haffner landed the trainer's 23rd Breeders' Cup victory in the Juvenile Turf (G1T). O'Brien has captured three of the past five editions of the Juvenile Fillies Turf. On NBC, Tabor credited trusted adviser Paul Shanahan with recommending Sun Goddess at the 2025 Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale in Doncaster, where Avenue Bloodstock, agent for M.V. Magnier, signed the ticket for the filly consigned by Owenstown Stud for £120,000 (US$161,739). Coolmore, of course, has purchased many yearlings for prices well beyond that number. "John Magnier was asking me what I was doing in Doncaster," Shanahan joked to NBC after Sun Goddess' win Friday. "Well, this is the answer." Bred in Ireland by Owenstown Bloodstock, Sun Goddess is the first winner from three starters for Etoile Bleu, by Starspangledbanner (AUS). Etoile Bleu is a half sister to multiple group 2 winner Gibraltar Blue (IRE) and group 3 winner Scream Blue Murder (IRE).