Finest City will train up to Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint

DEL MAR, Calif. – Finest City, the champion female sprinter of 2016, will make her next start in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on Nov. 4 and will not start in the Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Handicap for fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs at Del Mar on Aug. 13.

“She’ll get her break,” trainer Ian Kruljac said.

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Finest City, who won the 2016 BC Filly and Mare Sprint, finished third in the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes at Los Alamitos on July 8 and returned to racetrack training with a jog Friday morning at Del Mar, Kruljac said.

“She was excited to go back,” Kruljac said.

Kruljac said he plans to give Finest City a few workouts at Del Mar before the stable returns to Santa Anita in early September. The workout schedule will intensify in advance of the Breeders’ Cup race at Del Mar.

The $100,000 Rancho Bernardo Handicap is led by Skye Diamonds, who won the Great Lady M. Stakes, and Bendable, who won the Grade 3 Desert Stormer Stakes at Santa Anita on June 18.