Hushion has ambitious plan for Artemis Agrotera

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Mike Hushion is known to be conservative by nature, but when it comes to Artemis Agrotera he’s shedding that label in a big way.

Though Artemis Agrotera has not raced this year, Hushion is pointing her to the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on Oct. 31 at Keeneland, and he isn’t doing it on a whim.

“I just think she’s one of the top talented female sprinters in the country,” Hushion said Monday at Belmont Park. “If I could get her fit enough and racy enough, why not? I really think she has a legitimate shot.”

Hushion has not seen a standout in the division. Cavorting, a 3-year-old, is the probable favorite in the Filly and Mare Sprint. Judy the Beauty, the defending Filly and Mare Sprint winner, has struggled this year. La Verdad is unbeaten this year but is suspect at the seven furlongs of the Filly and Mare Sprint.

On Monday at Belmont Park, Artemis Agrotera worked a strong five furlongs in 59.06 seconds out of the gate with Junior Alvarado aboard. She had a stablemate leave the gate with her, but Artemis Agrotera ran away from that one quickly and kept on going. It was her sixth work since September and her second consecutive bullet.

Hushion said he worked Artemis Agrotera from the gate because he “wanted to get her tired, wanted to get a race in her.”

“You have to do that once when you’re coming off a big layoff – wring them out one time,” he said.

Artemis Agrotera, the winner of the Grade 1 Ballerina last year, has not raced since running seventh in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on Nov. 1.

Owner and breeder Chester Broman kept Artemis Agrotera on the farm for an extended period of time in part because Hushion was battling leukemia. Hushion returned to work in the spring, and Artemis Agrotera soon joined him at Belmont, but Hushion didn’t like the way she was training at first, so he sent her home for a few more weeks.

When she returned in the early summer, “she came back very sound,” Hushion said.

“She’s been sounder than she’s ever been,” he said. “Every work’s been brilliant.”

If the Filly and Mare Sprint oversubscribes, Artemis Agrotera would have to be selected into the body of the field. She is a two-time Grade 1 winner – she won the Frizette at 2 in addition to the Ballerina at 3 – and has run in the last two Breeders’ Cups.