LEXINGTON, Ky. – It was just two weeks ago here at Keeneland that trainer Todd Pletcher won a single race with two horses as Pure Pauline and Grand Entrance dead-heated for win in a maiden race. “I was hoping to save that for the Distaff,” Pletcher said. “I can’t imagine that happening again in a couple of weeks.” A dead heat between Malathaat, the 2021 3-year-old filly champion, and Nest, the likely 2022 3-year-old filly champion, in Saturday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff going 1 1/8 miles at Keeneland would be the only result that would fully satisfy Pletcher, who is not overly enthused to run the pair together. “For me, I love both fillies so much and hate to run them against each other,” Pletcher said. “It’s going to be kind of bittersweet no matter what the result is if one beats the other. But at the same time, we’re hoping one of them can get it done.” That is not a given. This year’s Distaff, with only eight horses, is a competitive group. All but Awake At Midnyte have won at least one Grade 1 race. Malathaat’s five Grade 1 victories lead the group, but she was made the second choice on the morning line behind her younger stablemate Nest, a three-time Grade 1 winner. :: BREEDERS’ CUP 2022: See DRF’s special section with top contenders, odds, comments, news, and more for each division Clairiere has beaten Malathaat twice this year. Her Steve Asmussen-trained stablemate Society is 4 for 5 this year with a Grade 1 victory in the Cotillion in her most recent outing. Search Results is solid, if a tad suspect at 1 1/8 miles. Secret Oath beat Nest in the Kentucky Oaks, capping off a stellar spring that didn’t carry over into summer. Blue Stripe comes off a victory in the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch at Del Mar. Awake At Midnyte is a deserving longshot. Malathaat, a daughter of Curlin owned by Shadwell Stable, has gone 9 for 13 in her career with three seconds. Her one third-place finish came in last year’s Distaff, when she took on older horses for the first time and got beat a half-length. Pletcher felt a bump at the head of the lane by eventual runner-up Dunbar Road may have cost her second. Three of Malathaat’s career victories have come at Keeneland, most recently a 5 1/4-length romp in the Grade 1 Spinster on Oct. 9. It was a significant victory in that it was the first time she won by a substantial margin since she topped a weaker field in the Tempted Stakes in her second career start. “The one thing I liked about the Spinster is the way she finished up and drew away from the field, which is something she typically hasn’t done without the blinkers,” Pletcher said. On the same day that Malathaat won the Spinster, Nest was at Aqueduct beating up on a lesser group of older females by 9 3/4 lengths in the Grade 2 Beldame. Nest, like Malathaat, has only lost three times in a 10-race career, one of those being a second-place finish against males in the Belmont Stakes. Nest has been more brilliant than Malathaat, recording five of her seven victories by five lengths or more. In her lone start at Keeneland, in April, Nest won the Ashland by 8 1/4 lengths. As a way of comparison, Pletcher offers this: Nest will “blow the race wide open when she turns for home and has that quicker acceleration. Malathaat needs a little time to gear up.” Malathaat will break from the rail under John Velazquez. In 2004, Pletcher and Velazquez teamed to win the 2004 Distaff with the 3-year-old Ashado. :: Bet the Breeders' Cup with a $200 First Deposit Match and FREE Formulator PPs. Join DRF Bets. Nest, who breaks from post 6 under Irad Ortiz Jr., will try to become just the fifth 3-year-old filly since Ashado to win the Distaff. Asmussen trained the 3-year-old Untapable to win the Distaff in 2014. She won five weeks after taking the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx Racing. Five weeks ago, Society romped to a 5 3/4-length victory in the Cotillion at Parx, doing so with an early turn of foot that likely makes her the pacesetter in this spot. “Coming off the Charles Town Oaks and Cotillion, if that racetrack is tight and speed-favoring they’re going to have their hands full,” Asmussen said. “She’s just very fast right now. Effortlessly fast.” Society will break from post 8 under Florent Geroux. Clairiere came off a victory in last year’s Cotillion to run fourth, beaten three-quarters of a length in the Distaff. She won three of her first four starts this year before a non-effort in the Personal Ensign on Aug. 27, her last race. Asmussen said he didn’t feel the need to get Clairiere another race before the Distaff. “I was extremely influenced by how she ran off breaks, how sharp she was in [winning] both of them and have a great amount of faith in the ability that she has and the level she’s capable of,” Asmussen said. Search Results figures to be the one closest to Society early. Though she has a win at 1 1/8-miles – the Grade 3 Gazelle as a 3-year-old – she has come up just short twice at the distance, both times to Malathaat. “A mile and an eighth has been just a touch far against the likes of a Malathaat,” Brown said. “If you look at it another way, in a lot of these mile and an eighth races, she’s run huge numbers; she’s going to beat most horses in this division in most years.” :: Breeders' Cup Friday and Saturday Past Performances are available now! Save up to 36% on BC essentials with a DRF Package!  About trying to successfully get the 1 1/8 miles, Brown said, “My thinking and my hope is that Keeneland’s track is kinder to a horse that is trying to get that mile and an eighth.” Secret Oath has dropped four straight since her Kentucky Oaks victory. Most recently, she finished third behind Society in the Cotillion. While her trainer, D. Wayne Lukas, ranks first in all-time Breeders’ Cup wins, he has not had one since 2014. “I think this is the best I’ve had her,” Lukas said Wednesday. “Whether that equates to a win, I don’t know. It’s a helluva tough race. I think it’s the best race on the card.” Blue Stripe, half-sister to 2019 Distaff winner Blue Prize, finished seventh in last year’s Distaff, her first start in the United States. This year, she has won 2 of 3 starts for trainer Marcelo Polanco and has trained extremely well at Keeneland. The Distaff goes as race 9 (3:55 p.m. Eastern) on the 12-race card that begins at 10:30 a.m. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.