Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint: Lady Shipman should relish revised distance

The Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint is being run over 5 1/2 furlongs for the first time, and few horses have accomplished more at the distance this year than Lady Shipman. She will be seeking her fifth consecutive stakes win at the trip Friday, when she starts in the $100,000 Franklin County at Keeneland. The race will be Lady Shipman’s final prep for the Grade 1, $1 million BC Turf Sprint over the same course Oct. 31.

“She’s shipped to Keeneland, and we’ve got her settled in,” said trainer Kathleen O’Connell. “She’s doing well, sharp as a tack. We’re pointing for the [Franklin County] as long as the weather is good and the turf is good, then on to the Breeders’ Cup.”

The BC Turf Sprint was inaugurated in 2008, and its first two runnings were at 6 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita. The race was cut back to five-eighths of a mile in 2010 and 2011 when run at Churchill Downs before reverting to 6 1/2 furlongs for the past three years, all at Santa Anita.

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Lady Shipman has never been beaten at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf and set a Saratoga course record at the trip in her last start when she won the $100,000 Smart N Fancy in 1:00.46. The 3-year-old Lady Shipman defeated older rivals in the Aug. 30 race, the second time she has done so during her current four-race win streak that started with a pair of turf stakes wins at about 5 1/2 furlongs at her base of Monmouth Park.

“She’s not a great big horse, but she’s got a heart the size of the United States,” O’Connell said. “She loves her job. She loves to train. She loves everything about it.”

O’Connell said pedigree led Lady Shipman to turf, noting that her dam “showed an affinity” for grass. Lady Shipman also is a synthetic-track winner, having taken the OBS Sprint Stakes in track-record time in January, when she covered six furlongs in 1:08.80. In that race, she sat just off the pace, as she did in the Smart N Fancy.

“That’s the beauty of her,” O’Connell said. “She rated when she broke the track record at Saratoga and rated when she broke the track record at OBS. There isn’t a lot of rating when going five-eighths, but you don’t always have to go pedal to the metal.”

Lady Shipman races for Ranlo Investments.

◗ The BC Turf Sprint is an option for Amelia’s Wild Ride, the winner of the off-the-turf Woodford Stakes at Keeneland last Saturday, according to trainer Ramon Preciado. He said Amelia’s Wild Ride would need to be made Breeders’ Cup eligible, and discussions are ongoing with Silver Trail Stables. The horse, a multiple stakes winner on turf, has been based at a farm since the Woodford, according to Preciado.

◗ Grade 2 winner Ready for Rye is being considered for the BC Turf Sprint, said trainer Tom Albertrani. The horse has won his last three starts, including the Quick Call Stakes at Saratoga and the off-the-turf Allied Forces at Belmont.

“We’re just kind of waiting to see where we sit as far as getting into the race,” said Albertrani.