Guarana, Secret Spice being considered for Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint

A pair of key preps for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint will be run Saturday and will go a long way in determining just who the top challengers will be to the likely favorites Covfefe and Come Dancing.

The Grade 2 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes, a Win and You’re In toward the BC Filly and Mare Sprint, will be run at Keeneland with a handful of possibilities for the Nov. 2 BC Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita, including Spiced Perfection, Chalon, Mia Mischief, Danuska’s My Girl, and Talk Veuve to Me. The six-furlong TCA is a furlong shorter than the seven-furlong Filly and Mare Sprint.

At Santa Anita, Anonymity and the comebacking Selcourt are expected to head the lineup for the Grade 3 L.A. Woman at 6 1/2 furlongs.

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Meanwhile, Guarana and Secret Spice both are being considered for a turn-back in the Filly and Mare Sprint after each last competed in a 1 1/16-mile race.

Chad Brown said this week from New York that Guarana is being considered for either the BC Distaff or the Filly and Mare Sprint after incurring her first career defeat last Saturday in the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx Racing.

Given her outstanding record since starting her career this year at 3 – the Three Chimneys homebred won the Grade 1 Acorn and Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks following a 14 3/4-length debut victory in April – Guarana surely would be regarded as a major threat on the cutback in distance.

“We’re going to keep an eye on both races,” Brown said. “The Filly-Mare Sprint is definitely in play.”

Secret Spice, trained by Richard Baltas, ran second behind Paradise Woods as the odds-on favorite in the Zenyatta last Sunday at Santa Anita. The 4-year-old Discreet Cat filly came to prominence in late March by winning the Beholder Mile at Santa Anita.

Covfefe and Come Dancing, both Grade 1 winners this year, each has had her final prep. Covfefe earned a 107 Beyer Speed Figure in winning the Dogwood at Churchill Downs, while Come Dancing, who owns a career-high 114 Beyer, was an easy winner of the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom at Belmont Park.