Breeders' Cup not on Becca Taylor's schedule
Becca Taylor, a four-time stakes winner who is a nose away from being undefeated after 10 starts, is unlikely to run in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland this fall.
Becca Taylor is unbeaten in graded stakes, having won the Grade 3 Desert Stormer Stakes at six furlongs at Santa Anita on June 4 and the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs at Los Alamitos on Monday.
But Becca Taylor was not nominated to the Breeders’ Cup program as a weanling, nor was her stallion, Old Topper. Owner and breeder Nick Alexander said on Friday that Becca Taylor would have to be supplemented to the Breeders’ Cup for $100,000 by July 15 to be eligible to the Filly and Mare Sprint, or for $200,000 later this year.
The sum is greater than Alexander would prefer to pay, although he has a recent history of such big-ticket gambles.
“That’s a little out of my price range,” he said. “If you pay it, then you have to worry about her for four months. I think we’ll pass.”
Last fall, Alexander paid $100,000 to supplement Lieutenant Dan to the Breeders’ Cup program and was rewarded when the gelding finished second in the BC Turf Sprint at Del Mar, earning $170,000. The payment was made after Lieutenant Dan won his final prep in September, the Grade 2 Eddie D Stakes at Santa Anita.
Becca Taylor, trained by Steve Miyadi, may start in the Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Handicap at Del Mar on Aug. 28. The $150,000 Rancho Bernardo Handicap is run for fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs.
“That would fit her,” Alexander said. “After Del Mar, we might give her some time.”
In the $201,000 Great Lady M. Stakes, Becca Taylor led throughout and pulled away to win by two lengths over Samurai Charm as the 3-5 favorite. Elm Drive posed a brief threat in early stretch before fading from contention.
“She’s such an unusual animal,” Alexander said. “She’ll show speed if she wants to or she lays back. Last couple of times, she was right there on the lead. When Elm Drive loomed up and looked like it would go by, she lengthened her stride and drew off again.”
Alexander watched from home from his central California ranch.
“I would have liked to have been there,” he said. “I was so proud of her.”
Becca Taylor has earned $499,160. She has won two stakes for California-breds. In her only loss, Becca Taylor was second by a nose to Eddies New Dream in the Irish O’Brien Stakes for statebred fillies and mares on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita in March.
Lieutenant Dan, the 2021 California-bred Horse of the Year, may be Alexander’s hope for the BC Turf Sprint at Keeneland on Nov. 5. Unraced since the 2021 BC Turf Sprint, Lieutenant Dan may have his 2022 debut in the Grade 3 Green Flash Handicap at five furlongs on turf at Del Mar on Sept. 4, a race he won last year.