Baffert begins to plan Eda's path to BC Filly and Mare Sprint

Eda extended her winning streak to six races with her fifth stakes win in Tuesday’s Grade 2, $202,000 Great Lady M. Stakes for fillies and mares at Los Alamitos, and in doing so gave trainer Bob Baffert a reason to point the 4-year-old filly to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita on Nov. 4.

Eda, owned by Charles and Susan Chu, dueled with Elm Drive through a quick pace and repelled a late challenge from the outsider Chismosa to win the 6 1/2-furlong race by a neck.

“She showed a pretty gutty performance,” Baffert said on Thursday. “I love horses like her that like to win.

“That was pretty impressive. She got collared and looked like she was going to get beat.”

Eda’s streak began with three wins in the fall of 2021, including the Grade 1 Starlet Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Los Alamitos. Eda won her lone start of 2022, the Grade 3 Santa Ysabel Stakes at Santa Anita, in February of that year.

By Munnings, Eda won an allowance race at 6 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita in April in her only previous start this year.

Baffert said Eda will be raced sparingly prior to the seven-furlong BC Filly and Mare Sprint. The next stakes in California for the filly and mare sprint division is the Grade 3 Ranch Bernardo Handicap, a $125,000 race at 6 1/2 furlongs at Del Mar on Aug. 27.

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“There’s not really a lot of options,” he said.

There are no short-term racing plans for Cave Rock, one of the leading 2-year-olds of 2022, and Taiba, a division leader among 3-year-olds last year. Both are trained by Baffert.

Taiba has started once this year, finishing eighth in the $20 million Saudi Cup in Saudi Arabia in February. Baffert scrapped a scheduled start in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park on June 10, saying a week before the race that Taiba “was not back to where he was.”

A three-time Grade 1 winner last year, Taiba has not had a workout since early June.

“We’re going easy on him,” Baffert said.

Cave Rock, second as the 1-2 favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland last November in his most recent appearance and only loss in four starts, has not had a published workout since early April at Santa Anita.

Baffert described Cave Rock’s status as being in “light training.”

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