Lineup looks loaded for Filly and Mare Sprint

Headed by defending champion Informed Decision, the prospective field for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint is shaping up as a terrific one, with the cast also expected to include Champagne d’Oro, Dubai Majesty, My Jen, Rightly So, and Sara Louise.

The only remaining prep race in this division is the Grade 2 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes, a six-furlong race on Oct. 9 over the Polytrack at Keeneland. Champagne d’Oro, the only Filly and Mare Sprint candidate to have won two Grade 1 races this year – the Acorn and the Test – is “on target” for the TCA after breezing a half-mile Saturday at Churchill, said trainer Eric Guillot.

From overseas, an interesting prospect emerged Sunday when Lady of the Desert was impressive in winning the Group 2 Diadem Stakes at Ascot in England. An International Racing Bureau official said this week that trainer Brian Meehan is seriously considering a Breeders’ Cup run for the 3-year-old Lady of the Desert.

As for notable absentees, they include Mona de Momma, who has been sidelined since winning the Grade 1 Humana Distaff at Churchill, and Warbling, the Ballerina runner-up who “almost certainly will not” be ready for the Breeders’ Cup, said trainer Eddie Kenneally.
This will be the first year the Filly and Mare Sprint will be run at seven furlongs on dirt.