1 1/8-Mile Fleur de Lis Distance a Test For Its Stars

The $500,000 Fleur de Lis Stakes (G2) June 27 at Churchill Downs may lack in numbers but in accomplishments from its runners. Three grade 1 winners make up the field of five fillies and mares contesting the 1 1/8-mile race, and that distance could be the great equalizer. None of those grade 1 winners—Immersive, Shred the Gnar, and Splendora—have won over 1 1/8 miles, nor has Anita Ebert Racing's last-out stakes winner In Just My Heels. That leaves Ribble Farms and Front Page Equestrian's Regaled, third in the 2025 Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) for trainer Whit Beckman, the only winner at the distance thanks to the deep closer's win in last fall's Delaware Handicap (G3). Flying Dutchmen's Shred the Gnar is the only one of the five yet to make a start at the distance, although she handled top-level competition around two turns perfectly at 1 1/16 miles in the La Troienne Stakes (G1) May 1 at Churchill Downs. The 4-year-old Into Mischief filly is 3-for-3 over the Louisville, Ky., oval for trainer Brian Lynch. She also took the 1-mile Chilukki Stakes (G2) last fall and a 1 1/16-mile allowance option claimer in the spring of 2025. "She loves this track, and I think if we're going to stretch her out (to 1 1/8 miles) for the first time, it's better we do it at a track we know she likes," said Lynch's son and assistant trainer, Nic Lynch. "She's a filly that we've learned over time does well with a bit of space in between her races. Timing-wise from the La Troienne to the Fleur de Lis made perfect sense." Shred the Gnar's affinity for Churchill Downs is evident through her first two starts of the year. In Gulfstream Park's Royal Delta Stakes (G3) last February, she was beaten 19 lengths while finishing sixth. The Lynch team then saw her mentality and physical form improve once returning to Kentucky in the spring, and she proved a line could be drawn through the Gulfstream effort with her 1-length La Troienne triumph. "She does well when she's here at Churchill," Nic Lynch said. "Over the winter, she didn't have the same kind of energy she does when she's doing really good. It was kind of night and day when we got her back up here, she got back in the tub a lot more than she was, and her day-to-day energy level was much more noticeably her when she's good." A victory would earn Shred the Gnar a place in the conversation for leader of the Distaff division and earn her an automatic berth to the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) Oct. 31 at Keeneland through the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win And You're In. She'll have to go through two former Breeders' Cup winners to get it. The Fleur de Lis will also host a rematch of the May 30 Shawnee Stakes (G2) at Churchill, where Boyd Racing and By Talla Racing's 2025 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1) winner Splendora defeated Godolphin's 2024 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) winner Immersive by 2 3/4 lengths. Both are proven winners at 1 1/16 miles, but both were well-beaten runner-ups in their lone 1 1/8 mile attempt. For Immersive, a homebred daughter of Nyquist named 2024's Eclipse champion 2-year-old filly, that defeat was by 15 1/2 lengths to Scottish Lassie in Saratoga Race Course's Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) last summer. However, trainer Brad Cox is excited for another shot at the distance as he feels his filly is in better form for her third start at 4 than she was for her second start at 3. "I do like the idea of giving her another chance going a mile-and-an-eighth," Cox said. "We tried it at Saratoga last year, but she just maybe wasn't as good as we needed her to be last summer. I feel like she's better at the age of 4 than she was at 3. It's going to be her third run off the layoff—back a little quick—but physically I like how she looks and how she's worked leading up." Cox is also hoping the extra sixteenth could close the margin between Immersive and Splendora, whose lone 1 1/8-mile start led to a 5-length defeat by Seismic Beauty in the 2025 Santa Margarita Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita Park. "I'm hoping (the distance) will move us forward and (Splendora) backs up a little bit," Cox said. "I think there should be some speed. Splendora is obviously good, but we'll hopefully sit off those top two and get a good trip." Both Splendora and Shred the Gnar prefer to be forwardly placed, and Splendora is likely to need to show speed from the rail beneath Flavien Prat for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert. In a deviation from her usual style, In Just My Heels also went gate-to-wire in a slow-paced Jack Bishop Stakes June 12 at Prairie Meadows. In addition to Immersive, Regaled would also benefit from a contentious pace as a deep closer.