DEL MAR, Calif. – When horseplayers think about Chad Brown, they often think green. It’s true that Brown sends out one quality turf horse after another to pluck major stakes races across the country, but he’s also won the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on three occasions, including the last two editions with Goodnight Olive. Goodnight Olive was a challenge for Brown. Brilliant, but somewhat brittle, Brown nursed her through two bilateral ankle surgeries to go back to back on racing’s biggest stage. He’ll look for a three-peat on Saturday at Del Mar with Ways and Means, the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the Grade 1, $1 million Filly and Mare Sprint over seven furlongs. :: BREEDERS’ CUP FILLY AND MARE SPRINT: See DRF’s special section with top contenders, odds, comments, news, and more Ways and Means looked like the goods from her first start, impressively winning a maiden special weight at Saratoga. She then placed second in the Grade 1 Spinaway but emerged from the race with a serious injury. “I thought there was a chance that when we sent her home after the Spinaway that she wouldn’t run again,” Brown said. “Not only did she have a chip in her ankle, but she had a lot of swelling in a very important part of her pastern with a lot of soft tissue structures in there.” Not only did Ways and Means recover, but she’s turned into a force in this division, winning her last three starts, including the preeminent race for 3-year-old filly sprinters, Saratoga’s Grade 1 Test on Aug. 3. After the Test, Brown briefly considered training Ways and Means up to the Breeders’ Cup, but he opted to run her as a short-priced favorite in Aqueduct’s Grade 2 Gallant Bloom on Sept. 29. She captured the race by four lengths and earned a 101 Beyer Speed Figure. “The alternative was not good, going into the Breeders’ Cup off a layoff and not being sharp for those seven [furlongs] at Del Mar,” Brown admitted. “I was just running to give her some recency and hoping for the best against older horses. Lo and behold, she might have run the best race I’ve seen from her.” Ways and Means was assigned post position 9 for the Filly and Mare Sprint. Before the draw, Brown mentioned that he preferred to be “drawn toward the outside to get a trip where she doesn’t have to catch too much dirt. This is a filly that does prefer to get outside in the clear.” Three of the best older filly and mare sprinters in the country exit Saratoga’s Grade 1 Ballerina Handicap on Aug. 24. Society took that field gate to wire for trainer Steve Asmussen, who maintained that his plan for Society’s 2024 campaign was carefully mapped out. “The reason she was put back in training was this,” Asmussen said about the Filly and Mare Sprint. “Specific races off of a nice break,” was how he described her two starts this year, noting that both were contested over the same seven-furlong distance as the Filly and Mare Sprint. Society likes to run fresh and Asmussen seemed bullish about the mare’s recent training. After competing in seven consecutive route races, Scylla cut back in distance to finish second in the Ballerina. “My gut feeling is that she’s better at one turn,” said trainer Bill Mott. “She ran a good race off a short rest last time. She went to California and back and ran in three weeks’ time.” Vahva placed third as the Ballerina favorite, but it’s worth noting that she has never run her best races at Saratoga, and might simply not care for that surface. She beat Society two back in the Grade 3 Chicago at Churchill Downs and is a true seven-furlong specialist for trainer Cherie DeVaux. Vahva capped off her Breeders’ Cup preparations with a comfortable solo half-mile breeze at Keeneland on Oct. 26, striding out nicely under the wire. Asmussen also saddles Zeitlos, a late-blooming filly who has won seven of her last eight starts on dirt. A one-run closer, Zeitlos impressed Asmussen when she rallied from last to win the Grade 2 Thoroughbred Club of America at Keeneland on Oct. 5. “It appeared she overcame the [speed] bias,” said Asmussen, who feels that Zeitlos might get a good pace to attack at Del Mar. “It’s the scenario where the main fillies have so much pace that if they overdo it, she may be the beneficiary.” After Soul of an Angel upset last year’s Breeders’ Cup Distaff runner-up Randomized in Aqueduct’s Grade 2 Ruffian at one mile on May 4, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. felt that his veteran mare was more effective in one-turn races. She ran so well when second to champion Idiomatic in Monmouth’s Molly Pitcher at 1 1/16 miles, however, that Joseph gave Soul of an Angel one more try routing, and she was a well-beaten third in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign. Joseph cut Soul of an Angel back to seven furlongs for the Grade 3 Princess Rooney at Gulfstream, and she displayed a strong late burst of speed to win by 3 1/4 lengths. “Definitely much better one turn,” Joseph said. “The race with Idiomatic, it was a slow pace. It didn’t really test the stamina as much, so she ran well. But, in a true-tested stamina race, two turns isn’t her thing.” One Magic Philly has won three of four starts, and she took down a big prize when besting the quality Sweet Azteca in the Grade 3 Chillingworth. She handled the unseasonably hot temperature with aplomb, battling the favorite for the lead, and never relinquishing it. The 3-year-old filly has loads of upside potential. “She is training so good and as sharp as she is, it is the right time to take a big swing,” trainer Phil D’Amato said earlier in the week. “She is a filly on the rise.” Pleasant is a fascinating entrant for trainer Bob Baffert as she makes her stakes debut. A head away from being unbeaten, Pleasant showed no rust returning from a 395-day layoff to grab a second-level allowance at Los Alamitos. Pandora’s Gift and Frost At Dawn move from turf to dirt after finishing third and fifth, respectively, in Keeneland’s Grade 2 Franklin Stakes. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.