Covfefe to use Dogwood Stakes as prep for Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Covfefe figures as a heavy favorite when she has her final Breeders’ Cup prep next Saturday at Churchill Downs in the $125,000 Dogwood Stakes at seven furlongs.

Trainer Brad Cox settled on the ungraded Dogwood because the distance is the same as the BC Filly and Mare Sprint, to be run Nov. 2 at Santa Anita, and to get a relatively easy race in her, as opposed to some of the graded preps that remain.

Covfefe, owned by LNJ Foxwoods, has won 4 of 6 starts, with her victory in the Grade 1 Test last month making her one of the early favorites for the Filly-Mare Sprint.

Meanwhile, Cox said Meadow Dance would scratch this Saturday from the Open Mind to stay within the 3-year-old filly division in the Grade 3 Charles Town Oaks next Saturday.

◗ Hog Creek Hustle, a just-miss runner-up in the Grade 1 Allen Jerkens after winning the Grade 1 Woody Stephens in his previous start, will run next against older horses in the Grade 2 Phoenix, a six-furlong race on opening day, Oct. 4, at Keeneland. The 3-year-old colt’s connections will then decide on which Breeders’ Cup race, the Sprint or Dirt Mile, is more suitable for him.

◗ A memorial service was to be held Saturday in Shelbyville, Ky., for Debbie Sanner, 53, who was married for the last 30 years to longtime Kentucky-based trainer Dan Sanner. Sanner died Tuesday from a brain aneurysm. The couple has one son, Brandon.