Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf: Sharla Rae, Hard Not to Like prep in Rodeo Drive

For many of the elite grass runners preparing for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Keeneland on Oct. 31, this weekend is a time for workouts leading to their final prep races next week. But not all of the top prospects are staying in the barn during the afternoon.

Two horses in Daily Racing Form’s top-10 list of leading contenders – Hard Not to Like and Sharla Rae – are expected to be in action Saturday in the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive. For the 3-year-old Sharla Rae, the Del Mar Oaks winner, she merely needs to be led out of her regular Santa Anita stall to run there. But for Hard Not to Like, the race means a cross-country journey from her base in New York to compete in California.

Trainer Christophe Clement, who trains Hard Not to Like for Speedway Stable, said the Rodeo Drive was chosen over the Flower Bowl at Belmont on Oct. 3 because it’s a week earlier on the calendar and the sunny weather in California should provide a firm turf course – something that is not always assured in New York in the fall.

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Hard Not to Like is a three-time Grade 1 winner in 2014-15, all on firm ground, with one of those victories coming at Santa Anita in the Grade 1 Gamely on May 25. Having raced mostly at distances of 1 1/16 miles to 1 1/8 miles, the 1 1/4-mile Rodeo Drive provides a new distance test for her and should help prepare her for the Filly and Mare Turf at 1 3/16 miles. This is the first time the Filly and Mare Turf has been run at that distance.

Sharla Rae has more to prove than the ability to go 1 1/4 miles in the Rodeo Drive. She also gets her first test against older mares, having raced exclusively against her own age group.

The Rodeo Drive, like the Flower Bowl, is a Win and You’re In challenge race for the Filly and Mare Turf, providing an expenses-paid berth in the race. Regardless of the outcome of the Rodeo Drive, it is unlikely that the winner would become the favorite for the Filly and Mare Turf, barring defections from overseas.

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European Group 1 Matron winner Legatissimo is as short as even-money with British bookmakers in future-book wagering for the race, followed by another European, Secret Gesture, at prices ranging from 7-1 to 8-1.

Secret Gesture, who crossed the wire first in the Beverly D. Stakes at Arlington on Aug. 15, only to be disqualified for interference and placed third, is expected to return to the U.S. to prep for the Filly and Mare Turf in the Flower Bowl, where she is likely to meet, among others, three Grade 1-winning mares trained by Chad Brown: Dacita, Stephanie’s Kitten, and Watsdachances.