The fields for the 14 races that comprise the Breeders’ Cup World Championships really begin to come into focus in summer and fall and this regular feature will offer a snapshot profile of one of the previous weekend’s standout stars.

Four-year-old filly Adare Manor notched her fourth consecutive win – and third graded stakes win in a row – in the $400,000, Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes Aug. 5 at Del Mar. The daughter of champion Uncle Mo earned an automatic berth in the $2 million, Grade 1 Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff scheduled for Nov. 4 at Santa Anita Park with the victory as the Clement Hirsch is part of the Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” Challenge Series.

Adare Manor was purchased by agent Donato Lanni representing owner Michael Lund Petersen for $375,000 as a 2-year-old in 2021. She emerged as a stakes-caliber filly early in her 3-year-old season with a dominant 13-length win in the Grade 3 Las Virgenes Stakes in February 2022. Adare Manor had more success last year with a near-miss effort in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, losing by a nose, and another runner-up finish in the Grade 2 George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, and she has matured nicely at age 4 this year to become the leading older female dirt racehorse on the California circuit.

The filly posted dominant victories in the Grade 2, 1 1/16-mile Santa Maria Stakes April 29 at Santa Anita Park and then the Grade 2, 1 1/8-mile Santa Margarita Stakes at the same track – by 4 ¾ lengths and 4 ½ lengths, respectively – leading up to the Clement L. Hirsch. She won both of those starts by controlling the pace through moderate fractions and drawing well clear of her foes in the stretch. In the 1 1/16-mile Clement Hirsch, however, Adare Manor sat just off of the early pace set by Elm Drive (a 17.70-1 frontrunning sprinter stretching out) before bidding for the lead in midstretch. Adare Manor put away that stubborn foe in the final sixteenth of a mile while keeping a rallying Desert Dawn at bay to her outside to win by one length.

“I was hoping to be on an easy lead,” said trainer Bob Baffert in Thoroughbred Daily News. “I knew [Elm Drive] is a really fast filly; you want to stay close to her. Sort of took our filly out of her game a little bit. [Jockey Juan Hernandez] had to keep riding her the whole way but, at the end, she's a big, long-jumping filly and she just got going there at the end. We're happy with the win; we got a Grade 1.”

Adare Manor earned an Equibase Speed Figure of 102 in the Clement Hirsch, repeating the figure she earned in the Santa Margarita (she had a 105 in the Santa Maria). Her Beyer Speed Figure of 94 in the Hirsch dipped from a 98 in the Santa Margarita and 95 in the Santa Maria.

Adare Manor reaffirmed her spot atop the California older female dirt division with less than three months to go before the World Championships are held. How does she stack up overall?

• Plus: Adare Manor does her best running on or near the early lead, and she’s 5-for-8 with three seconds on her home track, Santa Anita Park, which is the site of this year’s Breeders’ Cup. Santa Anita’s dirt track is a speed-favoring surface, and Adare Manor obviously has an affinity for it.
• Plus: This filly’s bloodlines are suited for route races up to the 1 1/8-mile distance of the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff. She is by the standout young sire Uncle Mo, who excelled in two-turn races as a champion 2-year-old but was not the same at age 3 due to health issues and retired at the end of that season. As a sire, however, Uncle Mo already has a Kentucky Derby winner (Nyquist) and a Belmont Stakes winner (Mo Donegal) among his progeny. Adare Manor’s female pedigree is solid as well – she’s out of the multiple stakes-winning mare Brooklynsway, by Giant Gizmo. Brooklynsway won five stakes races at 1 1/16 miles. From an “eye test” perspective, Adare Manor’s win in the Santa Margarita takes top honors among her trio of stakes scores this year – and notably, that race was held at 1 1/8 miles vs. 1 1/16 miles for both the Santa Maria and Clement L. Hirsch.
• Minus: Despite winning the Clement Hirsch, Adare Manor had to work hard in deep stretch to put away a longshot sprinter. She is a lengthy, galloping filly who didn’t face much adversity in her two stakes wins this year prior to the Hirsch, comfortably controlling the pace in the Santa Maria and Santa Margarita, and even though she responded well enough to outfinish Elm Drive and Desert Dawn at Del Mar, it remains to be seen how she can handle tougher competition, which leads to…
• Minus: Adare Manor has faced four opponents in each of her four wins during this streak, including graded stakes winners Desert Dawn twice and Kirstenbosch three times. She’s gone off as the post-time favorite at less than even-money odds in all of those starts, so it’s clear that as it stands now this talented filly has nothing left to prove competing on her own circuit. The prospective field for the Longines Distaff will be quite different, though, featuring the likes of Nest, Clairiere, speedy Society (who impressed with a wire-to-wire win back in June in a Grade 3 route), Secret Oath, A Mo Reay, and possibly Pretty Mischievous coming in from the Atlantic time zone and Baffert-trained 3-year-old filly Faiza on a potential path to take on older horses in the Breeder’s Cup as well. Adare Manor will be facing a big class test if she shows up in the Distaff.

Baffert told Steve Andersen of Daily Racing Form that he plans to start Adare Manor once more prior to the Breeders’ Cup in November, in the Grade 2 Zenyatta Stakes going 1 1/16 miles Oct. 1 at Santa Anita. It would be beneficial for this filly to gain more experience running against a larger field – say, eight horses or more – prior to the Longines Distaff, but given the current population of California stakes divisions, that might not happen. Regardless, if she continues to progress and does start in the Longines Distaff Adare Manor should have a say in the outcome of the race as a pace factor at the very least.