Streaking Ami's Mesa brings versatility to Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Josie Carroll had a successful weekend at Woodbine, picking up a graded stakes victory with Moonlit Promise in the Grade 3 Ontario Fashion Stakes on Saturday. She also notched two runner-up finishes in stakes on Sunday with Jacks Escarpment in the Overskate Stakes and Avie’s Mineshaft in the Princess Elizabeth Stakes.

Carroll is hoping for even more stakes success next weekend, when Ami’s Mesa will run in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at Del Mar on Saturday.

Ami’s Mesa is unbeaten in four starts this year for Carroll and owner-breeder Ivan Dalos, including graded stakes victories in the Grade 3 Ontario Matron Stakes and Grade 3 Seaway Stakes at Woodbine, and the Grade 2 Presque Isle Downs Masters Stakes, in which she set the 6 1/2-furlong track record.

“She’s impressed me all year, to tell you the truth,” Carroll said. “She’s just a very good filly. We’ve been thinking about (the Breeders’ Cup) for a little while and after the Presque Isle race it showed she could travel and hold her own, and that made the decision a little easier for Mr. Dalos.”

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Ami’s Mesa has never raced on dirt, but she has trained over the dirt training track at Woodbine. She’s breezed twice on the dirt training track since her start at Presque Isle Downs, which included a five-furlong breeze in 59.60 seconds Oct. 5.

“She’s never raced on dirt so it’s unknown for me, but she’s worked equally well on both surfaces,” Carroll said.

Regular rider Luis Contreras will retain the mount on Ami’s Mesa for the Breeders’ Cup.

Ami’s Mesa will be Carroll’s third career Breeders’ Cup starter. She previously had sent out Careless Jewel to an eighth-place finish in the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Distaff and Leigh Court to a fifth-place finish in the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint.