Dream Tree out of BC Filly and Mare Sprint

ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Bob Baffert was planning on sending nine horses to the Breeders’ Cup, and he worked five of them Friday, but the unbeaten Dream Tree came out of her work with an entrapped epiglottis that will need surgery and she is out of the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, he said.

Dream Tree worked fast, a half-mile in 46.80 seconds under Drayden Van Dyke, but she struggled to best her company and was “making noise” after the work, Baffert said. An endoscopic examination minutes later at the barn revealed the issue.

Dream Tree, 3, was scheduled to be sold at auction immediately after the Breeders’ Cup, but now will be withdrawn, Baffert said. She will remain in training next year.

Baffert also has Marley’s Freedom in the Filly and Mare Sprint. Van Dyke was scheduled to ride her, with Mike Smith on Dream Tree. But since Smith has first call on both, now that Dream Tree is out Smith will ride Marley’s Freedom, Baffert said.

He also made a decision regarding riders for his top two Classic prospects. Smith will stay on McKinzie, while John Velazquez will inherit the mount on West Coast. Smith has been riding both horses. McKinzie stays in training next year at age 4, while West Coast, who will be 5 next year, is headed to stud duty.

Baffert’s two runners for the Distaff, Abel Tasman and Vale Dori, went in company and went so easily that Santa Anita’s clockers listed their work as breezing, something rarely given on this circuit. Both were timed in 47.20 seconds.

Abel Tasman worked inside of and in front of Vale Dori. She was sluggish leaving the gate in her last race, a belly flop in the Zenyatta, and she also lacked early speed in the La Troienne Stakes at Churchill Downs earlier this year, so Baffert wants her to be more forwardly placed early in the Distaff.

“She has to be aggressive leaving there,” said Baffert, who said both his Distaff candidates “went nice” in their workouts.