BC Juvenile Turf Sprint Test for Males, Fillies

While the $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G2T) will not have a say in crowning a champion, the five-furlong test will raise the curtain on the five "Future Stars Friday" Breeders' Cup races with a rather intriguing matchup.

In this case, the Nov. 1 test at Santa Anita Park looms as the setting for a lively battle of the sexes, with the field of 12 featuring four fillies taking on males. As unusual as that might seem, it makes perfect sense to trainer Wesley Ward. Not only is he confident the ladies can hold their own, he believes they might have an advantage.

"I don't think that sprinting on grass at this time of the year creates a problem for a filly running against the boys," he said. "You get a (three-pound) weight break, and that might give them an edge."

Ward will send out two of those fillies, and he just might have the top American hopefuls in the race. In Cambria, a filly, and Four Wheel Drive, a colt, Ward has a pair of undefeated stakes winners who will vie for favoritism in an international field.

A homebred daughter of Speightstown  owned by Stonestreet Stables, Cambria has already tackled the boys and handled them, winning by a head over Chimney Rock in the Sept. 7 Kentucky Downs Juvenile Turf Sprint Stakes to improve her record to 3-for-3.

"She's a small filly, and we took a little extra time with her," Ward said. "We started her at Presque Isle Downs because we didn't want to tackle the big guns at Belmont Park. When she passed the first two tests and we asked her to really dig down deep in her soul, she did it with a beautiful race at Kentucky Downs."

Breeze Easy's Four Wheel Drive has motored to impressive stakes wins in his two starts, taking the Futurity Stakes (G3T) at Belmont Park in his most recent start.

"He ran a big race in the Futurity," said Ward, who finished second in last year's inaugural Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint with Chelsea Cloisters, a filly. "He's a solid horse by American Pharoah  who has done everything right. He keeps getting better and better."

Ward is also sending out David Mowat's Kimari, a daughter of Munnings  who beat Three Diamonds Farm's Chimney Rock by a half-length in the Indian Summer Stakes at Keeneland. Her lone loss in four starts came overseas in the Queen Mary Stakes (G2) at Royal Ascot.

Chimney Rock will look to turn the tables on Ward's fillies in Friday's stakes that also features European group winners A'Ali and Dr Simpson.

Entries: Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G2T)

Santa Anita Park, Friday, November 01, 2019, Race 5

• Grade IIT
• 5f
• Turf
• $1,000,000
• 2 yo
• 1:12 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Chimney Rock (LA)	Jose L. Ortiz	122	Michael J. Maker	10/1
2	2Band Practice (IRE)	Jamie P. Spencer	119	Archie Watson	12/1
3	3Another Miracle (KY)	Manuel Franco	122	Gary C. Contessa	15/1
4	4Dream Shot (IRE)	Christopher Hayes	122	James Tate	15/1
5	5Encoder (KY)	Flavien Prat	122	John W. Sadler	15/1
6	6Alligator Alley (GB)	Wayne Lordan	122	Joseph O'Brien	12/1
7	7Kimari (KY)	John R. Velazquez	119	Wesley A. Ward	7/2
8	8Dr Simpson (FR)	Richard Kingscote	119	Thomas Dascombe	15/1
9	9Four Wheel Drive (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	122	Wesley A. Ward	3/1
10	10A'Ali (IRE)	Lanfranco Dettori	122	Simon Crisford	6/1
11	11King Neptune (KY)	Ryan L. Moore	122	Aidan P. O'Brien	15/1
12	12Cambria (KY)	Tyler Gaffalione	119	Wesley A. Ward	12/1
13	13Bulletproof One (CA)	Javier Castellano	119	Peter Miller	12/1
14	14Air Force Jet (GB)	Wayne Lordan	122	Joseph O'Brien	12/1
15	15Fore Left (KY)	Mario Gutierrez	122	Doug F. O'Neill	12/1
16	16Karak (KY)	Julio A. Garcia	122	Wesley A. Ward	15/1