DEL MAR, Calif. - A plan hatched in April came to fruition on the first Saturday in November as Loves Only You, the third betting choice at 4-1, split horses in deep stretch under Yuga Kawada and got up to win the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf by a half-length over My Sister Nat. My Sister Nat, a 29-1 longshot, was second by a head over War Like Goddess, the 2-1 favorite, who was 1 1/2 lengths clear of Love, the 3-1 second choice. The win was the first in the Breeders’ Cup by a horse based in Japan. Horses based in Japan had been 0 for 13 in the Breeders’ Cup, though the Japanese-bred, French-trained Karakontie won the Mile in 2014. “We made history, we won the Breeders’ Cup,” trainer Yoshito Yahagi said through an interpreter. “So this will hopefully make the Japanese horse racing industry come over for Breeders’ Cup. Our winning hopefully opens Japanese racing up to Breeders’ Cup.” The idea to come to the Breeders’ Cup was first discussed in April after Loves Only You won the Group II Queen Elizabeth Cup at Sha Tin in Hong Kong on April 25. Yahagi and owner Takumi Nomoto decided on one race in between, the Group 2 Sapporo Kinnen at Sapporo. Loves Only You finished second. :: BREEDERS’ CUP 2021: See DRF’s special section with recaps, results, charts, news, and more for each division “We picked that race because the turf track was similar to Del Mar, we tried to test that ground, how she handled it,” Yahagi said. Yahagi added that Loves Only You, who had five races from October 2020 to April 2021, benefited from a freshening, which is why she didn’t race from April until August. Saturday, Loves Only You raced a close-up fifth, but was between rivals while Going to Vegas set the pace hounded by Dogtag. Kawada remained patient while others moved to challenge, most notably My Sister Nat and War Like Goddess, the latter making a slight lead in upper stretch under Julien Leparoux. Inside the sixteenth pole, however, Loves Only You split War Like Goddess and My Sister Nat and beat them to the wire. “He rode perfect and we won,” Yahagi said. Loves Only You, a 5-year-old daughter of Deep Impact, covered the 1 3/8 miles in 2:13.87 and returned $10.60 to win. She earned a 102 Beyer Speed Figure. My Sister Nat, a half-sister to Sistercharlie, who won this race in 2018, “ran the race of her life,” trainer Chad Brown said to finish second under Jose Ortiz. “We had a plan to follow War Like Goddess, which he executed perfectly,” Brown said. “I just said, 'If you have any chance to win, just follow her and draw alongside of her in the stretch and if our horse is good enough, battle it.’ ” Brown said that My Sister Nat will be retired. :: DRF Bets players get free Daily Racing Form Past Performances and up to 5% weekly cashback. Click to learn more. War Like Goddess, the favorite off four consecutive victories, made a wide, sweeping move to strike the front turning for home, but couldn’t sustain her bid. “On the backside she took the bridle on me. I was okay with that and she made that move like we were going to win easy and just got caught at the end,” Leparoux said. “I wish she didn’t take the bridle that early with me but she ran a good race.” Love, sent out by Aidan O’Brien got parked out wide throughout under Ryan Moore and settled for fourth as O’Brien failed to win this race with his 16th starter in 13 runnings of this race. “The race got a little bit messy for us,” O’Brien said. “After the first bend she got pushed right out, but listen, she ran well, it just didn’t work for us.” Both Loves Only You and Love will target the Hong Kong Cup on Dec. 12, their connections said. Loves Only You will remain at Del Mar to prepare for that race.