McCarthy makes case Ce Ce should be female sprint champ

DEL MAR, Calif. – In a year in which Ce Ce won two Grade 1 stakes and placed in a third, trainer Michael McCarthy was a bit surprised the filly did not attain a spot as finalist for an Eclipse Award in the older dirt female division for 2020.

“This year, I had it in mind that wasn’t going to happen,” McCarthy said.

Ce Ce will most certainly be a finalist and very well could be the champion female sprinter of 2021 after she upset defending sprint champion Gamine in Saturday’s $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar. The victory completed a campaign in which Ce Ce won 4 of 6 races, including the Grade 2 Princess Rooney at

Gulfstream Park in July and the Grade 3 Chillingworth by five lengths on Oct. 3 at Santa Anita.

She split decisions with Gamine, losing to her by three lengths in the Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga before beating her by that same margin in the Breeders’ Cup. Gamine won three other graded races, including the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff, Grade 3 Las Flores, and Grade 2 Great Lady M.

“If the Breeders’ Cup is truly racing’s championship day and she beat everybody on the square, then in my mind she is a champion,” McCarthy said Sunday morning of Ce Ce.

Ce Ce, a 5-year-old daughter of Elusive Quality, equaled a career best by earning a 100 Beyer Speed Figure in the Filly and Mare Sprint in which she beat Edgeway by 2 1/2 lengths. She is expected to remain in training for a 6-year-old campaign, one that hopefully ends in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint next fall at Keeneland.

A race like the Grade 1 Madison at Keeneland in early April could be an early-season target for Ce Ce, McCarthy said. The first race of the Santa Anita winter meet of any note that makes sense is the Grade 2, $200,000 Santa Monica on Feb. 5.

“Looks to me like she popped out of this race in pretty good shape,” McCarthy said. “We’ll give her an easy week of it and come up with a game plan.”

Meanwhile, Gamine, the beaten favorite in the Filly and Mare Sprint, “came back fine,” trainer Bob Baffert said.

“I should have probably prepped her one more time,” said Baffert, noting that Gamine hadn’t run since the Ballerina on Aug. 28.

Baffert said he and owner Michael Lund Petersen will discuss whether to run Gamine again in 2022 or retire her to be bred.

Rudy Rodriguez, the trainer of fourth-place finisher Bella Sofia, said his 3-year-old filly was to ship back to New York, but he would like to bring her to Southern California for the Grade 1 La Brea, a sevenfurlong race against 3-year-old fillies on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita.

“I think she deserves a chance against her own group. It’s the last race for 3-year-old fillies,” Rodriguez said.