By Gary Yunt and Liane Crossley
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Blue Devil Racing Stable’s Come Dancing, a five-time graded stakes winner, on Sunday breezed three-eighths of a mile in :36 and galloped out a half-mile in :48 on a fast track in her final work prior to a second run in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1) on Saturday.
“The clockers got her in all 12s (seconds),” trainer Carlos Martin said of the breeze, which had been scheduled for Monday. “I looked at the weather forecast and it is supposed to be 24 (degrees) in the morning and feel like 18, so the track may be frozen. I didn’t want to get caught Tuesday or Wednesday not having been able to breeze.”
Come Dancing ran sixth in last year’s Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita, where she did not have a work over the track prior to the race.
“She came in there with the last group of horses from New York,” Martin said. “This is going to be her swan song, and we wanted to bring her in so she could get used to the weather here.”
Come Dancing has raced four times this year and comes into the Breeders’ Cup off a victory in the Honorable Miss (G2) at Saratoga Sept. 6.
“With the uncertainty of the racing calendar because of the pandemic, we put her in a tough spot when we sent her to Oaklawn Park early for a two-turn Grade 1 race (the Apple Blossom),” Martin said. “The Vagrancy (G3 in which she was second) I thought was decent and the Ballerina (G1 in which she was fourth) was not bad. She had a tough trip in that one and people were writing her off, but I knew different.
“In the Honorable Miss, Irad (Ortiz Jr.) rode her and loved her. If Come Dancing wants to fire her ‘A’ race, I think she is as good as any horse in the country.”
On Friday and Saturday, Keeneland will host the 37th Breeders’ Cup World Championships. For more information about the event, visit breederscup.com.
On Monday, the Rood & Riddle Breeders’ Cup Virtual Post Position Draw is 5-6:30 p.m. ET. The event will be livestreamed on breederscup.com and shown on TVG.
Press Release
Photo: Come Dancing in a work. (Janet Garaguso)
