Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint: Successful test drive for Venetian Harbor
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Venetian Harbor not only showed she can win again when capturing the Raven Run last weekend, but the 3-year-old filly also got a run over the Keeneland surface at the same seven-furlong distance at which her next race, the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, will be run Nov. 7.
Venetian Harbor was all the rage prior to the coronavirus pandemic when romping in the Feb. 9 Las Virgenes by 9 1/4 lengths at her home track, Santa Anita. And even though her Beyer Speed Figures remained steady – her next four races, remarkably, all resulted in her earning a Beyer in the tight window of 95 to 97 – it wasn’t until the Raven Run that she found the winner’s circle again.
Now it’s full speed ahead to the $1 million Filly and Mare Sprint, for which Gamine remains the 8-5 choice on the early line compiled by Daily Racing Form handicapper Brad Free. Serengeti Empress is next at 4-1, followed closely at 5-1 by Bell’s the One, who beat her a nose in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff on Kentucky Derby Day. Venetian Harbor is pegged at 10-1.
Venetian Harbor finished a distant second to Gamine in the seven-furlong Test at Saratoga in early August. Gamine, who has not raced since finishing third as the odds-on favorite in the Kentucky Oaks, was sent by Bob Baffert through her third serious work since that Sept. 4 race when going five furlongs Sunday in a minute flat at Santa Anita.
Meanwhile, trainer Bill Mott said last weekend that he is leaning toward skipping the Filly and Mare Sprint with Frank’s Rockette to run her instead versus males in the BC Sprint, saying the six-furlong distance is more to her liking.
Also, trainer Michael McCarthy said he has decided on running Ce Ce in the Distaff instead of the Filly and Mare Sprint. McCarthy still has Speech, winner of the Ashland at Keeneland in July, for this race.
Also, the Raven Run runner-up, Finite, is very unlikely to be among the pre-entries Monday, according to David Fiske, racing manager for owner-breeder Winchell Thoroughbreds.
In other notable works last weekend, Bellafina went a half-mile in 48.40 seconds on Sunday at Keeneland; Sconsin, who was withheld from the Raven Run to train straight into the Filly and Mare Sprint by trainer Greg Foley, breezed five furlongs in 1:01.60 on Sunday at Churchill Downs; and Hard Not to Love, still considered an outside possibility for the Filly and Mare Sprint, went five furlongs in 1:01.20 on Saturday at Santa Anita.
A sizable field is still possible for the 14th Filly and Mare Sprint, with as many as 14 being allowed to start.