Brown changes plans for Maram

As Monday's pre-entry deadline for the $2 million Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita grew near, trainer Chad Brown had a change of goals for his 3-year-old filly Maram.

Instead of trying the $2 million Ladies' Classic over 1 1/8 miles on the main track, his original intention, Brown opted to pre-enter Maram in the Filly and Mare Turf, which will be run on the same Nov. 6 program. The last time Maram ran at Santa Anita, she pulled an 11-1 upset in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf last year.

"I changed my mind a little bit," he said from his New York base Wednesday morning. "The more I thought about it, she's 1 for 1 on the turf course there. She won on it, and that eliminates one guess."

Maram will be an outsider in the Filly and Mare Turf, which is run over 1 1/4 miles. The list of pre-entries was announced Wednesday and is led by defending champion Forever Together, the California star Magical Fantasy, and the European Group 1 winners Dar Re Mi and Midday. Dar Re Mi may not start in the Filly and Mare Turf. She was cross-entered in the $3 million Turf against males on Nov. 7, and that race is listed as her first preference.

Maram has won 4 of 5 starts and $799,520 for Karen Woods and Saud bin Khaled. The Filly and Mare Turf will be her first start at 1 1/4 miles on turf.

Maram has made two starts this year, winning the John Hettinger Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 8 and suffering her first career defeat when third, beaten a neck, after a wide trip in the Pebbles Handicap at Belmont Park Oct. 12.