Breeders' Cup Spotlight: Filly & Mare Sprint

Date: Saturday, Oct. 31 at Keeneland.

Purse: $1 million.

Division: Fillies and mares 3 years old and up.

Distance: 7 furlongs.

TV: NBC Sports Network.

Radio/livestreaming: Horse Racing Radio Network, including 93.9-FM in Louisville and horseracingradio.net.

The favorite: Installed at 3-1 on the morning line from the outside post, Cavorting, as trainer Kiaran McLaughlin admits, has had two bad races in seven career starts. Otherwise, the 3-year-old Bernardini filly has passed every test. "It's the first time facing older fillies and there's some tough ones out there," McLaughlin said, "but she's doing well and we anticipate her running well."

Cavorting enters on a three-race winning streak including a win in the Grade I Longines Test Stakes Aug. 8 at Saratoga. Notably, however, she lost the only time she left New York to run.

Short rest: Trainer Linda Rice made the tough choice to skip the Breeders' Cup with La Verdad when the mare went instead in last Saturday's Iroquois Stakes at Belmont Park. But the 5-year-old cruised in what amounted to a paid workout, so La Verdad will return Saturday with just a week between races. And at 6-1 she's among the top choices in the field of 14 for the Filly & Mare Sprint.

Defending champ: Winless since last year's Filly & Mare Sprint, Judy the Beauty is back to defend her title. But she's also among the most lightly raced of the bunch in 2015, the 6-year-old mare having run just three times and with a worst finish of third. In her final prep for the Breeders' Cup, Judy the Beauty ran third to Fioretti in Keeneland's Oct. 3 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes. Fioretti is 30-1 for Saturday's race and the defending champ 6-1.

Worth knowing: Todd Pletcher-trained Dame Dorothy, who scored in Churchill Downs' Grade I Humana Distaff on the Kentucky Derby undercard, is owned by celebrity chef Bobby Flay. Which reminds us: What ever happened to that Louisville restaurant, Bobby?