INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Blind Luck, winner of five graded stakes this year, worked five furlongs in 1:01.20 at Hollywood Park on Sunday for the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic on Nov. 5, a race in which she will be favored.
“She’s right on schedule,” trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said.
As Blind Luck walked off the track, Hollendorfer shouted to jockey Joel Rosario, who was aboard for the workout and was riding the filly on an incline toward the stables.
“What’s your opinion?” Hollendorfer said.
“Very good, easy,” Rosario said.
Blind Luck won her last start at Churchill Downs, the Kentucky Oaks in April. She has made her last three starts outside of California, winning the Grade 2 Delaware Oaks in July and the Grade 1 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga in August, and finishing second to BC Ladies’ Classic hopeful Havre de Grace in the Grade 2 Cotillion Stakes at Parx Racing on Oct. 2.
Hollendorfer said that Blind Luck’s consistency reminds him of Hystericalady, an eight-time stakes winner who earned $2.3 million in her career and retired in 2008.
“She’s doing great and always looks good,” Hollendorfer said. “I guess a good horse is like that.”
Gabby’s Golden Gal uncertain for BC
Gabby’s Golden Gal, unraced since winning the Grade 1 Santa Monica Handicap in January, may be running out of time for a start in the BC Filly and Mare Sprint on Nov. 5.
Gabby’s Golden Gal worked six furlongs in 1:12.80 on Sunday, but trainer Bob Baffert expressed caution about her schedule for the rest of October.
“We’re trying to get a foundation into her,” Baffert said. “It’s going to be close. We’re still hoping to get there right now.”
Gabby’s Golden Gal worked from the gate.
“She just cruised around there,” Baffert said.
Owned by Arnold Zetcher, Gabby’s Golden Gal, 4, has won 4 of 9 starts, $499,405, and three stakes.
Baffert said that Alienation, sixth in the Oak Leaf Stakes, will miss the Breeders’ Cup but could start in the $55,000 Anoakia Stakes over six furlongs at Hollywood Park on Sunday. Owned by Baffert’s wife, Jill, Alienation was second in two sprint stakes at Saratoga earlier this year – the Grade 2 Adirondack Stakes and the Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes.
Crown of Thorns eyes BC Classic
Crown of Thorns, second in the Grade 1 Goodwood Stakes on Oct. 2, is likely to start in the $1 million BC Dirt Mile on Nov. 6, but trainer Richard Mandella has not ruled out the $5 million Classic the same day.
“I’m 80 percent going to the Mile,” Mandella said Sunday. “There’s a slight chance for the Classic. My most serious intention is in the Mile. If I get a feeling, it might change.”
Last year, Crown of Thorns was second in the BC Sprint at Santa Anita.
Kinsale King works on Fresno dirt
BC Sprint candidate Kinsale King was sent to the Big Fresno fair on Saturday for a workout over a dirt track.
Unraced since finishing 12th in the Group 1 July Cup at Newmarket, England, on July 9, Kinsale King breezed five furlongs in 59 seconds under trainer Carl O’Callaghan.
“He skipped over the top of it,” O’Callaghan said. “He got a good blow out of it.”
In recent months, Kinsale King has worked primarily on Hollywood Park’s Cushion Track synthetic surface. Since Churchill Downs has a conventional dirt track, O’Callaghan wanted to give Kinsale King a work on that surface before the BC Sprint.
Owned by Patrick Sheeny, Kinsale King, 5, won the Grade 2 Palos Verdes Handicap at Santa Anita in January and the $2 million Golden Shaheen for sprinters in Dubai in March. He was later third in the Group 1 Golden Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot in June.
Last February, O’Callaghan took Kinsale King to Golden Gate Fields for a workout on the Tapeta surface at that track. Meydan Racecourse in Dubai also has a Tapeta surface.
“I think he’s coming around, but we’re coming in under the radar,” O’Callaghan said of the Breeders’ Cup. “I feel very comfortable.”
