DEL MAR, Calif. – Sweet Azteca and Tamara do not have a chance to recapture their former glory, after all.
The two favorites for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint both were scratched Saturday morning, leaving a field of seven. Fee Blanche was scratched early in the week.
Sweet Azteca and Tamara, Grade 1 winners in 2024 and 2023, appeared to have resuscitated their careers. Both were coming off sharp wins and were listed 2-1 and 7-2, respectively, in the Filly and Mare Sprint, race 4 Saturday. In their absence, trainer Bob Baffert has a stranglehold on the race.
Baffert trains three of remaining seven entrants; they now are he three favorites. Hope Road, winner of the Grade 1 Ballerina Stakes last out, is the revised 7-5 favorite by Breeders’ Cup linemaker David Aragona. Baffert-trained Group 1 winner Richi is the revised second choice at 2-1; Baffert-trained Splendora is the 9-2 third choice.
Four others remain in the seven-furlong Filly and Mare Sprint, race 4. In order of revised odds, they are Vahva, 8-1; Haulin Ice, 10-1; Praying, 12-1; and Zeitlos, 15-1.
The seven-runner field is the second-smallest for the Filly and Mare Sprint. Only five contested the race in 2021 at Del Mar.
Hope Road is owned and bred by Ron and Barbara Perry, whose stable name is Cicero Farms. Sired by Quality Road, the 4-year-old filly was produced by Marley’s Freedom, a Grade 1 winner trained by Baffert who finished fourth in the 2018 Filly and Mare Sprint at Churchill Downs.
Hope Road has own five races and $866,620 from 12 starts, and will be ridden by Jose Ortiz. The filly has enough tactical speed to stay in contact with likely pacesetter Haulin Ice. A series of fast recent workouts by Hope Road stamps her as ready for her first start since late August.
Richi, a Group 1 winner in Chile and Grade 2 winner in the U.S., is backing up from a series of routes. Baffert considered Richi for the BC Distaff. “I thought about it, but I think seven-eighths is a better distance.” Richi, 8 for 16, will be ridden by Luis Saez.
Splendora is the third Baffert starter. A restricted stakes winner shortening from a route to a sprint, Splendora will be ridden by Flavien Prat and is likely to rally from behind. It’s a winning angle. All three BC Filly and Mare Sprints at Del Mar have been won by late-running longshots.
The scratch of Sweet Azteca elevates the chances of Haulin Ice, who is likely to set the pace under Tyler Gaffalione.
Haulin Ice wired the field in five of her last six starts, including the Grade 3 Princess Rooney. Her trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. won the 2024 Filly and Mare Sprint with late-running Princess Rooney winner Soul of an Angel. Haulin Ice and jockey Tyler Gaffalione are expected to set the pace.
Vahva is the most accomplished in the field, having won seven races and more than $2.1 million for trainer Cherie DeVaux. Vahva is 5, and her speed figures have tailed off. She earned an 89 Beyer her last two starts. She will be sold at auction next week.
Praying and Zeitlos finished first and third last out in the Grade 2 TCA Stakes at Keeneland.
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