Free as a Bird gets in, thanks to Kaigun's defection

ARCADIA, Calif. – There is expected to be a berth in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita on Nov. 1 for Free as a Bird, the winner of five consecutive sprint stakes for fillies and mares in Kentucky and New York this year.

Trainer Mark Casse said on Wednesday that Kaigun, the winner of the Play the King Stakes at Woodbine in August, will be pointed for the BC Mile and not the Turf Sprint, which is run over about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course.

Free as a Bird is the first horse on the also-eligible list of runners for the Turf Sprint and gains a spot in the field with the defection of Kaigun. The race will have a maximum of 14 starters. There were 29 horses pre-entered this week.

Free as a Bird, owned by breeder Elizabeth Valando, has won stakes ranging in distances from 5 1/2 to seven furlongs this year. On Oct. 10, she closed from fifth in a field of 12 to win the Buffalo Trace Franklin County Stakes over 5 1/2 furlongs on yielding turf. Earlier this year, she won two stakes at Belmont Park and two stakes at Saratoga.

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For Free as a Bird, the Turf Sprint will be her first start against males. She has won 8 of 21 starts and earned $503,208.

“She’s good right now,” trainer Ian Wilkes said.

Wilkes was encouraged by Free as a Bird’s half-mile breeze in 47.40 seconds at Churchill Downs on Monday, the fastest of 49 works at the distance.

“She breezed quite quickly the other day,” he said. “She’s confident and on top of her game.”

The Turf Sprint should have a competitive field led by No Nay Never, a stakes winner in England, France, and Kentucky for trainer Wesley Ward, and Reneesgotzip, who was third in the 2012 BC Turf Sprint and second in the race last year.