Horse-by-horse-guide: PNC Bank Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint

By Peter Fornatale

Breeders’ Cup Saturday kicks off with the Filly and Mare Sprint which looks sure to get things off to a fast and furious start as there is pace everywhere in this contest. A high 90s Beyer has been good enough to win this in the past but based on the numbers that these gals have run already you’ll need to run to at least 100 this time around. 

#1 ZEITLOS 

Joel Rosario | Steve Asmussen 

Ran to an 85 Beyer when seventh in this last year where she cut little ice, as she was basically in the same position throughout. Ran the same number last time out when a staying on third in the Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes behind Praying and Vahva, who both run here. Has some of the best late-closing pace figures in the race but it’s hard to envisage her having the class to win a race like this.

 #2 SPLENDORA   

Flavien Prat | Bob Baffert 

One of three Bob Baffert-trained runners in the field, she comes here having won her last two starts around Del Mar. Only ran an 86 two back but seem to improve for stretching out to a mile in the Tranquility Lake, making all to win by 5.5 lengths and hitting an impressive 100 Beyer in the process. That win was only at listed level, however, and she has yet to score in graded company, although she did run well in the Grade 1 La Brea behind the very talented Kopion last December. Tactically versatile and should be finishing well but others appeal more. 

#3 VAHVA 

Irad Ortiz | Cherie DeVaux 

Career-best figure of 103 was recorded on a sloppy track in the Derby City Distaff last year but has managed to better 99 since. Her bets Beyers have come around Keeneland and Churchill Downs and she ran to just an 84 when eighth in this race last year. Ran solidly last time out when splitting Praying and Zeitlos in the Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes but that form doesn’t look good enough here and this five-year-old looks like a pretty unlikely winner at this stage. 

#4 TAMARA 

Mike Smith | Richard Mandella 

Back in the summer of ’23, she looked like a star in the making, showing class on her debut and then winning the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante in impressive style. The vibes around her were not great the week of the Breeders’ Cup, and she popped and stopped in the Juvenile Fillies, flashing speed before going away tamely in the matter of a filly who didn’t want to run that far. Her first reboot attempt came last autumn, when she just lost a nose at allowance level before another setback sent her to the bench once again. She made her next return in the Chillingworth and she looked much more like the filly who won the Debutante at two, running out an easy winner and notching a career best 95 Beyer Speed Figure, a mark you’d think she’d better second time back for Mandella. She needs to get faster but there are reasons to think she can do just that and she deserves a spot near the top of the market. 

#5 FEE BLANCHE 

Hiroto Yoshihara | Terunobu Fujita 

Japanese raider who was fourth in a minor Stakes last time out at Ohi when looking as though she didn’t stay 9 furlongs. Cut back in distance looks like it should suit her but she has never won at Graded level and it’s extremely difficult to see her changing that in this spot. 

#6 SWEET AZTECA 

J. J. Hernandez | Richard Baltas 

Had a great run of form last year, including a Grade 1 success, before the wheels came off in the Chillingworth. After that, she took a while to return to the races and when she did, she was now in the barn of Richard Baltas. She repeated in the Great Lady M, the same Grade 2 she’d won in ’24, and did so with Kopion, a talented performer who is one of the market leaders vs the boys in the Sprint, 1.5 lengths behind her. In her most recent start, she regressed figure wise, but that was little more than a public workout as she won Rancho Bernardo Handicap by open lengths under a hand ride. Working along steadily without setting the world alright, but this is her backyard and she comes here with the best form in the race, so is an obvious contender. 

#7 HAULIN ICE 

Tyler Gaffalione | Saffie Joseph Jr. 

Really fun Arkansas-bred is a hard tryer not too far from passing the million-dollar mark in earnings. She’s done well at Listed level against open company pretty consistently and even managed a Grade 3 success in the Vagrancy at Aqueduct against talented stablemate R Disaster back in May. She backed that up with another Grade 3 win last time in the Princess Rooney at Aqueduct. Her typical race leaves her on the outside looking in – a Grade 3 horse in a Grade 1 race – but this overachiever is easy to cheer for. 

#8 HOPE ROAD 

Jose Ortiz | Bob Baffert 

Bob Baffert has made a habit of shipping into Saratoga on big days and winning valuable races and so it was with Hope Road in the Grade 1 Ballerina, where she stalked the pace unexpectedly set by Scylla, attacked on the turn and went on to victory. That marked three races in four where she’d gotten to the century mark on the Beyer scale but was her first victory at Grade 2 level or above. It wasn’t the strongest Grade 1 field and she has something to find with the best of these, but she absolutely fits as a secondary contender who should be around 4-1. She’s been off for 70 days, the longest break in the field, but Baffert excels off this type of layoff and she has been dazzling in her work. 

#9 RICHI 

Luis Saez | Bob Baffert 

Chilean-bred and G1 winner in her native land has had a pretty strong second act of her career since arriving Stateside. Her best run of form started this Spring when she just missed to the talented Cavalieri in the Grade 1 Beholder before going on to win the Grade 2 Santa Maria, both with triple-digit speed figures. That string of big figs continued in the G1 Hirch where she was third beaten five (behind Seismic Beauty and Kopion, who are at the head of the market in the Distaff and Sprint respectively), but still ran a 102. Cavalieri beat her again in the Zenyatta and her figure regressed to a 97, but maybe that rival is just a superstar? A winner over 10 furlongs back home, much will depend on how she handles the hot early pace here but a pace collapse could see her to maximum effect. 

#10 PRAYING 

John Velazquez | Robert Medina 

Has made steady progress through the grades and scored for the first time at Stakes level in the Prioress before defeating Vahva and Zeitlos next time out in the Grade 2 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes. She’s yet to race over further than 6 furlongs but very much shapes as though the extra yardage she gets here should suit. She’s run 90 Beyers the last twice and that’s not fast enough, and she has a difficult task from the draw with so much speed to her inside.