Sweet Hearth eyes BC Dirt Mile

Sweet Hearth, second by a nose in the Group 1 Prix de la Foret at Longchamp, in France, on Oct. 4, may start in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 7, trainer Alain de Royer-Dupre said Tuesday.

Dupre said that Sweet Hearth was pre-entered for the Dirt Mile and the Filly and Mare Sprint on Nov. 6. He also left open the possibility that she would not ship to California at all, pending the developments of a workout in France later this week. Sweet Hearth is scheduled to be shipped to California this weekend.

A Kentucky-bred 3-year-old by Touch Gold, Sweet Hearth has won 4 of 9 starts in Italy and France, including a listed race over about a mile at Chantilly, in France, last month. In the Prix de la Foret, her first start in a Group 1, Sweet Hearth finished a nose behind Varenar and a half-length in front of third-place finisher Goldikova, the expected favorite for the BC Mile on turf on Nov. 7.

"I think the Mile on the [synthetic track] will be better than the Sprint," Dupre said by phone. "She ran well in the Group 1 at Longchamp."