Finest City drills for Great Lady M. Stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. – Finest City, the champion female sprinter of 2016, worked a half-mile in 48.20 seconds at Santa Anita on Friday for an expected start in the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes at Los Alamitos on July 8.

Finest City won the Great Lady M. in April 2016 and later the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita last November to clinch the title. This year, Finest City has one win in four starts – the Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes at seven furlongs at Santa Anita in January.

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Owned by Tyler Seltzer and trained by Ian Kruljac, the 5-year-old Finest City has been second or third in her last three starts, including the Grade 1 Beholder Mile, which had three runners, on June 3.

The $200,000 Great Lady M. Stakes is the richest main-track sprint of the summer for fillies and mares in Southern California and is run at 6 1/2 furlongs.