Seltzer Thoroughbreds’ Finest City ($19.40) fought off a late bid by defending race champion Wavell Avenue by three-quarters of a length to win the 10th running of the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) Saturday afternoon at Santa Anita Park.
Trained by Ian Kruljac and ridden by Mike Smith, Finest City covered the seven furlongs on a fast main track in 1:22.37. It is the first Breeders’ Cup victory for Kruljac and the 24th for Smith, the all-time winningest rider in World Championships history.
For Smith, it was his second victory of these Championships and second in the Filly & Mare Sprint, having won in 2014 with Judy the Beauty.
Finest City is a 4-year-old Pennsylvania-bred daughter of City Zip who was winning for the first time in six starts on the main track at Santa Anita.