Eye protection for Sweet Reason

ARCADIA, Calif. – Sweet Reason will be equipped with a transparent green bubble over her right eye Saturday in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint because of an injury she incurred in her last race, the Sept. 20 Cotillion at Parx.

“It doesn’t affect the way she goes,” trainer Leah Gyarmati said. “It’s just there as a precaution.”

Sweet Reason, owned by the Treadway Racing Stable of Jeff Treadway, is the leading earner in the field with a bankroll of $1,423,000 from just nine career starts. The only other millionaire is Better Lucky, a 5-year-old mare with nearly $1.1 million from 19 starts.

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◗ The first Breeders’ Cup starter Carlo Vaccarezza ever had as an owner won at 17-1. That was Little Mike, trained by Dale Romans, in the 2012 BC Turf at Santa Anita.

Now Vaccarezza has his first BC starter as a trainer: Little Alexis, who figures to be in the 17-1 range in the Filly and Mare Sprint.

“People better watch out for her, because the filly is doing super,” said Vaccarezza, a south Florida restaurateur who saddled his first starter at Gulfstream Park last November.

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◗ Gary Mandella, who sends out Living the Life in the Filly and Mare Sprint, has never officially saddled a Breeders’ Cup winner, although he almost literally saddled one in 2003, when his father, Richard, won a record four races on the Breeders’ Cup card.

The Mandella-trained Johar and High Chapparal had finished together in the BC Turf, and the long wait to determine that it was indeed a dead heat was followed by a drawn-out post-race ceremony.

“At one point, Dad said, ‘You better go saddle Pleasantly Perfect,’” said Gary Mandella, referring to the winner of the BC Classic. “But right before I was ready to do it, he was back from the winner’s circle.”