The finish wire at Del Mar probably is the end of the line for Idiomatic, the majestic 5-year-old mare seeking a second Breeders’ Cup Distaff victory for owner-breeder Juddmonte Farm. While a Distaff repeat would be a fine way to go out, no decision has been made for 2025, when Idiomatic will be 6. Will she campaign on the racetrack, or go to the breeding shed? Juddmonte USA general manger Garrett O’Rourke deferred. “At the back of everyone’s mind, breeding her next year was the logical option,” O’Rourke said this week. “That’s very much for the family to decide. And we’ll see how Breeders’ Cup goes before we even start talking about it.” There is precedent for extending the career of a top female. Six-year-old mares who achieved at the top level include Zenyatta, Horse of the Year in 2010; Beholder, who won her second Distaff in 2016; and Blue Prize, Distaff winner in 2019. :: BREEDERS’ CUP DISTAFF: See DRF’s special section with top contenders, odds, comments, news, and more Brad Cox has trained Idiomatic through her stellar 12-for-17 career, but a decision on next year will be made by Prince Fahd Khalid bin Abdullah and Prince Saud Khalid bin Abdullah, sons of Juddmonte founder Prince Khalid bin Abdullah. Prince Khalid, who passed in 2021, had a similar choice with another superior mare. Enable won the Arc de Triomphe in 2017 and 2018, Breeders’ Cup Turf in 2018, and could have retired from racing after a 2019 campaign when she won three Group 1s at age 5. Prince Khalid opted to race Enable another year at age 6. “What he did with Enable was very admirable, and she rewarded him,” O’Rourke said. The 6-year-old Enable raced four times in 2020, capped by her third victory in the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. “So, would Idiomatic be a similar type of filly to consider [racing at 6]? I think so,” O’Rourke said. “She’s a very sound filly, very happy, easy keeper, keeps her flesh well. More than happy to place the options in front of [Prince Fahd and Prince Saud] and see if they’d want to consider it. That’s not for me to decide. It’s very much for the family to decide.” Perhaps it is a reach. Either way, Idiomatic is the highlight for a successful owner-trainer team. Juddmonte hired Cox in late 2017, before Cox had won a Breeders’ Cup race. He now has 10. Back then, Cox was just beginning to make a name for himself in the Midwest. :: ON SALE NOW: DRF Breeders' Cup Packages! Get everything you need to win and save 41% off the retail price. “Brad was starting to beat us with a consistent number of horses,” O’Rourke said with a smile in his voice. “That made us pay attention.” Cox remembers the phone call. “I got a call from Garrett, and said he’d like to meet with me about possibly taking some horses. For someone who trains racehorses, when you get a call from a world-class operation like that, it definitely puts a little pep in your step.” The first Cox starter for Juddmonte was Speed Gun in early 2018 at Fair Grounds. He won his debut by more than five lengths, starting a partnership now favored to win a second Distaff. Idiomatic was a long-term project. She went 1 for 2 in 2022, then was off seven months. Idiomatic emerged from virtual anonymity in 2023 to win eight races. Three were Grade 1s, including the BC Distaff at Santa Anita. When 2024 began, she was already famous. She also is big, more than 17 hands. Cox noted the difference between big and too big. “She’s not a heavy horse,” he said. “She’s big, but she’s got a big frame. It’s not as if she is super heavy or carries too much weight. She’s not a muscle-bound, heavy, overweight horse.” She is a running machine and will enter the Distaff off a runaway victory Oct. 6 in the Spinster Stakes at Keeneland. Idiomatic, 3 for 5 this year, works Friday at Churchill Downs and again next week before shipping on Oct. 28. Florent Geroux is her rider. Chances are the Distaff will be the finale for Idiomatic, by Curlin and produced by Lockdown. Meanwhile, a 2-year-old sibling trained by Cox is inching toward her debut. Chasten, a filly by Into Mischief and produced by Lockdown, is close to her first gate work. Owned and bred by Juddmonte, Chasten is Lockdown’s last foal. The mare died from complications foaling Chasten. ◗ Thorpedo Anna, Kentucky Oaks winner and Travers runner-up and likely second choice in the Distaff, worked solo the last two Saturdays. Kenny McPeek trains Thorpedo Anna. Her next two works at Saratoga will be in company before she ships to Del Mar. ◗ Raging Sea exited her Grade 2 Beldame victory in good shape and will try to give three-time Distaff runner-up trainer Chad Brown his first Distaff victory. Brown said Grade 3 winner Occult is likely to make her next start in New York. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.