2021 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint: Only six will take the plunge against Gamine
Gamine will be part of the shortest field in the 14-race Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar when the superstar filly faces just six others when seeking a repeat in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on Nov. 6.
Gamine, a 7 1/4-length winner of the 2020 Filly and Mare Sprint last year at Keeneland, will bring a 4-for-4 record as a 4-year-old into this 15th running of the seven-furlong race. She was listed at 4-5 on the early Daily Racing Form line when pre-entries were released Wednesday, the shortest of any favorite of the two-day event. John Velazquez will ride Gamine for trainer Bob Baffert as the daughter of Into Mischief looks to become just the second two-time winner of the Filly and Mare Sprint, following Groupie Doll (2012-13).
Bella Sofia (7-2) and Ce Ce (4-1) are next on the DRF line, followed by Edgeway, Estilo Talentoso, Proud Emma, and Truth Hurts.
Gamine has had no hiccups or interruptions to her schedule since Baffert brought her back to California shortly after she won the Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga. She had her fifth timed workout since that Aug. 28 race, going five furlongs last Saturday in 59.20 seconds at Santa Anita and is scheduled to have one final work this coming weekend.
Bella Sofia, based at Belmont Park with trainer Rudy Rodriguez, had her third work since winning the Gallant Bloom on Sept. 26, going five furlongs last Friday in 1:01.40 at Belmont Park. She will have her final breeze this weekend at Del Mar after having flown to Southern California from New York on Tuesday.
Ce Ce and Edgeway, both last-out Grade 3 winners on their home California circuits, also are set for pre-race blowouts in the coming days.
Estilo Talentoso, a close third in the Thoroughbred Club of America on Oct. 9 at Keeneland, is a supplementary entry for a five-way ownership group. Her trainer, Juan Arriagada, will be running a horse in the Breeders’ Cup for the first time.
Proud Emma will need to do much better than when she was fourth behind Ce Ce in the Chillingworth on Oct. 3 at Santa Anita last out. Truth Hurts, an 11th-hour pre-entry for Chad Summers, will be the rank outsider after finishing sixth at 38-1 in the Ballerina in her latest.
Club Car, runner-up in the TCA, would have been an eighth horse for this race before owners Mike and K.K. Ball decided early Monday against pre-entering. The TCA winner, Bell’s the One, was withdrawn on Oct. 22.
The Filly and Mare Sprint will be the first of the nine Saturday BC races, owing not only to the long-standing tradition of it being carded early in the day but also because of the short field.