Inside post unlikely to stop Covfefe in Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint

ARCADIA, Calif. – Covfefe has the one-hole. Gasps all around.

“I really don’t think it’s as big a deal as some people would make it out to be,” said Brad Cox, who trains Covfefe for LNJ Foxwoods. “I mean, she’s 2 for 2 from the rail. The only time she might’ve been compromised by an inside post was when she got pressed really hard through an extremely fast opening quarter. I don’t know that it’ll happen that way again.”

And therein lies the primary focus in regard to the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita. Covfefe, a record-setting 3-year-old with blazing early speed, will be ridden by Joel Rosario when she looks to turn back all challenges in the seven-furlong race, which kicks off Breeders’ Cup Saturday as the fourth of 12 races (post, 11:55 p.m. Pacific).

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After smashing the six-furlong track mark at Pimlico in May, Covfefe was upset in the Roxelana in June at her home track of Churchill Downs prior to rebounding with a win in the Grade 1 Test at Saratoga under Rosario. Her lone subsequent race, the Dogwood at Churchill, resulted in an easy win over outclassed opposition. Her performance in both the Miss Preakness and Dogwood graded out to 107 Beyer Speed Figures.

Cox is acutely aware that a repeat of the Roxelana scenario, wherein Covfefe was hounded by Mia Mischief while pinned down near the rail, would be best avoided by Rosario.

“I feel confident that Joel will give her a good trip,” said Cox. “Selcourt is fast and could push us, but maybe they’ll need to be a little conservative with her when trying to get the seven-eighths? I don’t think Rosario will overdo it. He doesn’t cook a horse early.”

Selcourt (post 7, Luis Saez) and Danuska’s My Girl (post 2, Geovanni Franco) are the obvious candidates to keep Covfefe honest out front. If in fact a ruinous pace unfolds, the two most logical threats to capitalize are Come Dancing and Spiced Perfection.

Come Dancing (post 4, Javier Castellano), the first Breeders’ Cup starter for trainer Carlos Martin, has surged to the forefront of this division by winning four of five starts this year, all in New York, including the Grade 1 Ballerina and Grade 2 Gallant Bloom. Her first race of the year, the April 5 Distaff at Aqueduct, resulted in an eye-popping 114 Beyer.

“It’s exciting to be here,” said Martin, whose grandfather Frank “Pancho” Martin is enshrined in the Racing Hall of Fame, and whose father, Jose, was the trainer of Groovy, a famously fast sprinter who was second as a heavy favorite in the 1987 BC Sprint. “The mare is at her peak and we are expecting another big race from her.”

Spiced Perfection (post 9, John Velazquez), making her first start in five months, overcame an awkward start to win the Grade 2 Thoroughbred Club of America last month at Keeneland, where in April she won the Grade 1 Madison. The 4-year-old California-bred grabbed a quarter in the TCA, said trainer Peter Miller.

“It was pretty ugly after the race,” said Miller. “But it’s healed up really nicely with my team working around the clock on it. She’s fully recovered and we got a nice work in her Saturday,” a five-furlong breeze in 1:01.40 at Miller’s primary base at San Luis Rey Downs.

“I love the draw. There’s a ton of speed to the inside and I think Johnny’s going to sit a good trip. I think we’re in good shape.”

Fringe players in this 13th running of the Filly and Mare Sprint include Lady Ninja (post 5, Drayden Van Dyke), who outnodded Selcourt over this track four weeks ago in the L.A. Woman; Dawn the Destroyer (post 8, Tyler Gaffalione), a late-running second to Spiced Perfection in the TCA; and Bellafina (post 6, Flavien Prat), who turns back from the two-turn Cotillion with a 4-for-4 record over the Santa Anita main track.

The longest shot in the field, Heavenhasmynikki (post 3, Ricardo Santana Jr.), “has a good chance to hit the board, I do believe,” said trainer Bob Hess Jr. A 4-year-old Ohio-bred named for the late daughter of owner Ron Paolucci, Heavenhasmynikki made her first trip to the track Wednesday after arriving the previous day from Kentucky.

The Filly and Mare Sprint, first run in 2007 at Monmouth Park, had not been won by a 3-year-old until Shamrock Rose got up in the final jumps last year at Churchill at 25-1. Covfefe and Bellafina are the only 3-year-olds in the field this year.