Come Dancing, Covfefe Meet in BC Filly & Mare Sprint
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Photo: Coglianese Photos/Joe Labozzetta
Come Dancing wins the Gallant Bloom Handicap at Belmont Park
Three-year-old quickness meets older-mare speed when Covfefe battles Come Dancing in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) Nov. 2 at Santa Anita Park.
Representing youth with fellow 3-year-old filly Bellafina, LNJ Foxwoods' Covfefe is 5-for-7, a record that includes victories in the Adena Springs Miss Preakness Stakes (G3) and Longines Test Stakes (G1). But it has been her performances this year against the clock that have distinguished her, first in the May 17 Miss Preakness at Pimlico Race Course when she blitzed six furlongs in 1:07.70, taking more than a second off the track record of 1:09 set by Northern Wolf in 1990.
Video: Adena Springs Miss Preakness S. (G3)
Five-year-old Come Dancing has shown speed, as well. As the 125-pound highweight in the Sept. 22 Gallant Bloom Handicap (G2) at Belmont Park, she sizzled 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:14.96—only a couple of ticks off the track record—under confident handling from Javier Castellano.
Video: Gallant Bloom H. (G2)
She worked six furlongs in 1:10 1/5 over the Belmont Park training track Oct. 19 while gearing up for a race Saturday that could mark the final one of her career.
"She's just a brilliant horse," said Carlos Martin, who trains the daughter of Malibu Moon for Marc Holliday's Blue Devil Racing Stable.
Covfefe is perfect in two starts at the Filly & Mare Sprint's seven furlongs, and Spiced Perfection won the Madison Stakes (G1) at the distance this spring, plus the La Brea Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita last year at 3. Other entrants with graded wins at the distance include Bellafina in the Del Mar Debutante Stakes (G1) last year at 2 and Santa Ynez Stakes (G2) at 3, and Selcourt in the Santa Monica Stakes (G2) last year at 4.
Covfefe and Come Dancing are newcomers to California, and Come Dancing is new to long travel altogether, having raced exclusively in New York. They enter the Breeders' Cup without any local breezes, something that does not faze Brad Cox, trainer of Covfefe. He prefers to train at Churchill Downs before shipping relatively close to a race, pointing to success from his barn in New York and California this year.
One such positive result came at Saratoga Race Course in the Test, a seven-furlong race Covfefe took Aug. 3 in 1:21.26 in which she defeated Longines Kentucky Oaks winner (G1) Serengeti Empress by a half-length. Come Dancing ran almost as quickly (1:21.48) over the same distance in her Ketel One Ballerina Stakes (G1) victory at Saratoga a few weeks later.
Joel Rosario, aboard Covfefe in the Test, replaces Shaun Bridgmohan, who served as her rider when she won the seven-furlong Dogwood Stakes at Churchill in a stakes-record 1:20.51 Sept. 21.
Covfefe and Bellafina will carry 122 pounds, two less than their older rivals.
Santa Anita Park, Saturday, November 02, 2019, Race 4Entries: Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1)
PP
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
M/L
1
1Covfefe (KY)
Joel Rosario
122
Brad H. Cox
2/1
2
2Danuska's My Girl (KY)
Geovanni Franco
124
Dan Ward
20/1
3
3Heavenhasmynikki (OH)
Ricardo Santana, Jr.
124
Robert B. Hess, Jr.
20/1
4
4Come Dancing (KY)
Javier Castellano
124
Carlos F. Martin
5/2
5
5Lady Ninja (KY)
Drayden Van Dyke
124
Richard Baltas
10/1
6
6Bellafina (KY)
Flavien Prat
122
Simon Callaghan
6/1
7
7Selcourt (KY)
Luis Saez
124
John W. Sadler
10/1
8
8Dawn the Destroyer (KY)
Tyler Gaffalione
124
Kiaran P. McLaughlin
12/1
9
9Spiced Perfection (CA)
John R. Velazquez
124
Peter Miller
4/1
