Sweet Reason Set for BC Filly and Mare Sprint

After an injured eye delayed the training of Sweet Reason this month, trainer Leah Gyarmati decided to allow the multiple grade I winner to make the final decision, through her Oct. 19 workout, on starting in this year's DraftKings Filly & Mare Sprint (gr. I).

After watching Sweet Reason cruise through three furlongs in :34.71 on Oct. 19 at Belmont Park, fastest of 10 workers at the distance; and gallop out in :48 flat, Gyarmati had her answer. The daughter of 2006 Bessemer Trust Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I) winner Street Sense   is scheduled to ship to Santa Anita Park Oct. 26 for her second Breeders' Cup start.

"It went really well. She surprised me," Gyarmati said of the talented filly who last year was the trainer's first horse to reach the Breeders' Cup World Championships. "She had a little issue with her eye coming out of the last race, so she lost a little training, not a lot, maybe a week and a half. I wasn't really sure if I was pushing it; the Breeders' Cup is coming up quick.

"I thought well, I'll let her tell me with her first breeze. ... She was supposed to go three-eighths and she ended up going a half. She just did it easily and couldn't have blown out a match afterwards."

Sweet Reason suffered the eye injury when she finished second to Untapable in the Cotillion Stakes (gr. I) Sept. 20 at Parx Racing. Sweet Reason will return to sprinting in the seven-furlong Filly and Mare Sprint, a distance at which she posted a one-length victory against other 3-year-old fillies in this year's Test Stakes (gr. I) at Saratoga Race Course.

Treadway Racing Stable's Sweet Reason also defeated 3-year-old fillies in winning this year's TVG Acorn Stakes (gr. I) at the one-turn mile distance at Belmont. While Sweet Reason will be facing older horses for the first time in this year's Filly and Mare Sprint, Gyarmati is confident she'll like the seven-furlong distance.

"I think the seven-eighths for her is a distance she's proven she's outstanding at," Gyarmati said. 

Sweet Reason finished fourth in last year's Juvenile Fillies (gr. I) won by Ria Antonia. With five wins and only one off-the-board finish in her nine career starts, Gyarmati said Sweet Reason, who typically rallies from off the pace, has improved with experience. 

"She's always encountering traffic, and bumping," Gyarmati said. "Now she's had some two-turn races under her belt, just in general she's had more seasoning with every race. ...She's just turned out to be such a blessing, such a special filly."

Gyarmati expects a more relaxed Breeders' Cup trip the second time around. She's planning to start Sweet Reason in the Filly and Mare Sprint and Frizette Stakes (gr. I) runner-up Wonder Gal in the Juvenile Fillies.

"Last year I went about 10 days out, more for myself because I'd never been there and wanted to feel everything out and see how everything went," Gyarmati said. "This year I feel a little more comfortable because I know how the track is, and the barn area, and what the rules are. That takes a lot of the stress out of it. Having gone through it once, and knowing the road, I think this will be a little more relaxing—as relaxing as something this high-profile can be.

"I can't believe I'm this lucky to have two of them to take out there."

Gyarmati hopes to work both fillies Friday, Oct. 24 and ship Saturday, Oct. 25. If forced by the weather, she could adjust that schedule. Working at Santa Anita would be an option under that scenario.