Drefong, Mind Your Biscuits, Imperial Hint will train up to BC Sprint

There are still three Win and You’re In Challenge races to be decided before the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 4. But barring an unforeseen change of heart from trainers Bob Baffert, Chad Summers or Luis Carvajal Jr., leading contenders Drefong, Mind Your Biscuits, and Imperial Hint will not participate in any of those preps. All three are on schedule to simply train up to the six-furlong Sprint.

The Grade 1 Vosburgh at Belmont Park on Sept. 30, the Grade 2 Phoenix at Keeneland Oct. 6, and the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Oct. 7 provide final opportunities for horses to earn a free pass into the Sprint. Mind Your Biscuits, by virtue of his victory in the Belmont Sprint Championship; Imperial Hint, for his triumph in the Smile Sprint Handicap at Gulfstream Park; and Ransom the Moon, winner of the Bing Crosby at Del Mar, have already earned automatic berths in the race by winning those Challenge races earlier this summer.

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Drefong, the reigning Sprint and Eclipse Award champion, will defend his title having made only two starts this year, including the Bing Crosby, in which jockey Mike Smith was unseated shortly after the start of the race. As a result, Baffert went to Plan B, shipping Drefong to Saratoga four weeks later for a four-length victory in the Grade 1 Forego to reaffirm his position atop the division.

“He definitely won’t run until the Breeders’ Cup,” Baffert emphasized on Monday when asked about his plans for Drefong.

When asked if Drefong would do all his training up to the race at Santa Anita or have his final work at Del Mar prior to the Sprint, Baffert said, “That’s way too far off to decide now.”

Baffert also said he has made no decision regarding the status of his 3-year-old American Anthem for the Sprint. American Anthem is coming off a third-place finish behind Practical Joke in the Grade 1 Allen Jerkens on Aug. 26 at Saratoga in his first start since an impressive tally 11 weeks earlier at Belmont in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens.

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“He breezed [Monday] morning and worked well, but we haven’t really molded our options yet,” said Baffert. “He just didn’t run his race up there. I don’t know why.”

Mind Your Biscuits is back at Belmont following his dull sixth-place finish in the Forego. Mind Your Biscuits was atop the division following one-sided victories in the Dubai Golden Shaheen and Belmont Sprint Championship.

“The Santa Anita Sprint Championship was tempting, but he’s run well fresh in the past,” said Summers.

Carvajal is using the same reasoning with Imperial Hint, who has won his four starts this season by a combined 17 lengths, including the Donald LeVine Memorial by 6 3/4 lengths on Sept. 4 at Parx in his final Breeders’ Cup prep.

“He always seems to run well with about eight weeks between races,” said Carvajal, who is stabled at Parx.

El Deal, who is undefeated and untested since being purchased privately and transferred to trainer Jorge Navarro during the spring, is expected to top the field for the six-furlong Vosburgh, while Ransom the Moon and Roy H, first- and second-place finishers in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby, are likely to be rematched in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship.

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