Finest City has final major work before BC Filly and Mare Sprint

ARCADIA, Calif. - A champion went first at Santa Anita early Saturday morning.

Moments after the track opened for training at 5 a.m., Finest City, the champion female sprinter of 2016, worked a half-mile in 47 seconds. For the rest of the morning, 47 other horses worked the same distance. None was as fast.

The solo workout was the last major exercise for Finest City before a scheduled start in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 4. Finest City won the 2016 BC Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita.

“She’s looking good, like she did last year,” trainer Ian Kruljac said. “She’s getting into it.”

Kruljac sensed Finest City would have a good workout when he arrived at the barn.

“She had her head out of the stall and was ready to go,” Kruljac said.

The Filly and Mare Sprint will be Finest City’s first start since a third in the Grade 2 Great Lady M Stakes at Los Alamitos on July 8 behind Skye Diamonds and Constellation, two other hopefuls for the Filly and Mare Sprint.

Kruljac said shortly after that race that Finest City would not start again until the Filly and Mare Sprint. Finest City has lost her last four starts since the Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes at Santa Anita last January. She will be largely overlooked in the Filly and Mare Sprint.

“She can prove what she is,” Kruljac said. “We have confidence in her.”

There were workouts from five other Breeders’ Cup runners Saturday at Santa Anita.

Accelerate, who may go favored in Friday’s BC Dirt Mile, worked five furlongs from the gate in 1:00.80 on his own. Trainer John Sadler timed Accelerate galloping-out six furlongs in 1:14. Accelerate worked from the six-furlong marker to the eighth pole.

“I like him sharp from the gate,” Sadler said. “How you get to the first turn will be key.”

Accelerate won the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at 1 1/16 miles at Del Mar in July and had a gate work in the week before that race. Arrogate was third behind BC Classic hopefuls Collected and Arrogate in his last start, the $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 19.

Collected worked six furlongs in 1:13.40 Saturday. Owned by Peter Fluor and trained by Bob Baffert, Collected is unbeaten in four stakes this year, all in Southern California. The Pacific Classic was his last start.

A 4-year-old, Collected has had four consecutive six-furlong workouts and has given consistent efforts during that span, Baffert said.
“He went around there like he always does,” Baffert said.

Shortly before Accelerate worked, Blackjackcat worked five furlongs in 1:00.40 for the BC Mile on Nov. 4. Blackjackcat worked alone. A 4-year-old, Blackjackcat has won his last four starts, including the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile on Aug. 20 over the same course and distance as the BC Mile.

“I wanted to see his usual work and we got that,” trainer Mark Glatt said. “He was pretty sharp for as slow as the track is.”

Fatale Bere worked a half-mile in 48.40 seconds for Friday’s Juvenile Fillies Turf. My Boy Jack worked five furlongs in 1:02.40 for Friday’s Juvenile Turf.

Fatale Bere won the Surfer Girl Stakes at a mile on turf Oct. 9 in her American debut.

My Boy Jack was second in the Del Mar Juvenile Turf on Sept. 3 and won for the first time in his career in his fifth start in the Zuma Beach Stakes at a mile on turf on Oct. 9.

Trainer Keith Desormeaux said My Boy Jack worked on dirt at Santa Anita because the colt has race experience on the Del Mar turf.

“If he hadn’t run on the turf at Del Mar, I would have shipped,” Desormeaux said. “I wanted to keep him in his routine.”