FILLY & MARE SPRINT

Great Hot – Keeneland’s Raven Run Stakes winner jogged in the chute then galloped about 12f around the track Tuesday at about 9 a.m. Trainer A.C. Avila watched his horse go through her exercise from the observation stand at the six-furlong gap.

“She’s doing everything right,” the Brazilian-born, but California-based, conditioner said. “She came out of that last one (Raven Run on Oct. 22) really well. When a horse has a hard race like she did that day, it is usually 10 days to two weeks before you get their enzymes and blood to test right. But she bounced back in just a few days. She’s a good filly.”

The 3yo daughter of U.S. sprint champion Orientate was bred in Brazil and won her lone start there in 2010. She subsequently captured three of six North American starts this year, including a pair of stakes.

Great Hot will break from post 2 in the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint and - for the sixth time in a row - will be ridden by Chantal Sutherland. Avila and the Canadian rider have formed a winning partnership during 2011 since she shifted her tack and emphasis to California at the beginning of the year.

“I like her a lot as a rider,” the trainer said. “She’s aggressive; a lot more aggressive than a lot of those males she rides against.”

Her Smile – One of two Breeders’ Cup entrants owned by Bobby Flay (the other is Super Espresso in the Ladies’ Classic), the 3yo daughter of Include shows only one win in eight starts this season for trainer Todd Pletcher.

“I don’t think we saw her best at Charles Town last time (sixth in Charles Town Oaks),” Pletcher said. “She ran a big race in the Prioress, then ran into Turbulent Descent at Saratoga in the Test. I think she’s proven she’s a sprinter.”

Her Smile won three of her first four starts as a 2yo, but shows only the Prioress in her win column this season. At morning-line odds of 15-1, she may be one of the longest chances of the day for Pletcher, who is starting nine Breeders’ Cup runners.

Turbulent Descent – Trainer Mike Puype beamed as he accompanied the 3yo filly back to the barn after she spent what seemed to be an unusual length of time training on Churchill Downs’ main track.

“I always let her take a lot of time on the track,” Puype said. “She likes to look around and see everything she can see while she’s out there.”

Turbulent Descent jogged 1m and then galloped 1m as she moved forward toward Friday’s race, in which she has been made the 6-5 morning-line choice.

Puype wasn’t the least bit hesitant when asked if she was the top horse he has trained.

“No doubt,” he said. “She’s won three Grade I races and she’s 6-5 in a Breeders’ Cup race.”