Ocala Stud bred Musical Romance scored a comfortable win in the $55,000 Mike Sherman Memorial S. Oct. 6  in advance of her Nov. 3 title defense in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) at Santa Anita. The 5-year-old mare was last year's Eclipse Champion Female Sprinter.

“The only job we had today was to get her one step closer to the Breeders’ Cup,” co-owner and trainer Bill Kaplan said following the race. “And I believe that’s what we were able to accomplish.”

Ridden by Juan Leyva, who has been aboard Musical Romance for 23 of her career starts, the daughter of Ocala Stud's late stallion Concorde’s Tune never lost sight of early leader Golden Mystery, staying within two lengths of that rival as she ran on the lead through opening splits of :22.43 and :45.83.

Golden Mystery retained a one-length advantage in mid-stretch, but Leyva was just biding his time, and in the final yards the champion mare made her way to the front with ease and was ridden out through the wire to a three-quarter length victory, getting the 6 ½-furlong distance in 1:17.13.

“She didn’t really have to work hard for it,” Leyva said. “All we wanted to get out of this was a good race for her; to just have her finish and keep her healthy. That’s all we were looking for. And it looks like that’s exactly what we got.”

Owned by Pinnacle Racing Stables and Kaplan, Saturday’s race marked her penultimate appearance before she retires; she is scheduled to pass through the Fasig-Tipton November breeding stock sale Nov. 5, two days after her Breeders’ Cup run.

With her victory in the Sherman, Musical Romance is now a 12-time winner from 40 career starts with earnings of $1,681,885. The southern Florida-based mare has made 25 lifetime appearances at Calder, including a win in this year’s Grade 1 Princess Rooney H.

Musical Romance is out of Candlelightdinner and is a half-sister to Vuelve Ruben M., a multiple graded stakes winner in Puerto Rico.