Breeders' Cup Sprint: Jimmy Creed puts in major work at Santa Anita

Shigeki Kikkawa

Jimmy Creed finished his heavy training for the Breeders' Cup Sprint with a five-furlong work in 59.80 at Santa Anita on Wednesday.

ARCADIA, Calif. - One of Richard Mandella’s top horses for the Breeders’ Cup races at Santa Anita on Nov. 2-3 is the promising 3-year-old Jimmy Creed, a candidate for the $1.5 million Sprint on Nov. 3.

Wednesday, Jimmy Creed worked five furlongs in 59.80 seconds, the fastest of 28 works at the distance. Jockey Garrett Gomez, who has the mount in the BC Sprint, was aboard for the workout.

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Mandella described Wednesday’s workout as “the one that counts” in the buildup to the six-furlong BC Sprint. He said Jimmy Creed may have “a little tuneup” in the days approaching the BC Sprint.

Owned by B. Wayne Hughes, Jimmy Creed was third in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Oct. 6, his first start in a race at that level. Jimmy Creed finished three-quarters of a length behind the winner, Coil, closing well through the final furlong along the inside. He trailed by as many as 6 3/4 lengths on the backstretch.

“With a little different luck, he could have won,” Mandella said.

The Hughes-Mandella team has the likely favorite in the BC Juvenile Sprint with the filly Beholder, who was second in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante on Sept. 1