The Ballerina – Grade I
7 Furlongs Stake Purse $500.000 Fillies & Mare Three-Year-Olds And Up.
What an evenly matched bunch of lasses. It’s races like this that make me regret my decision to handicap the full race. It’s mind-numbing business when you get down to the tenth horse and realize she could be up with the top four. Anyway, about the race, The Ballerina has been around since 2004, the early days of HRP. The first winner was Shes A Class Act, owned by Deez Racing Stable, one of the great early trainers of the game and an influential gentleman. Shes A Class Act was just that and went on to a career of graded races and an eventual bankroll of just under $1,200.000. There are stories galore in the lasses that won this storied race. The second edition went to Story Teller, then Barking Stables’ Cymba took over for the next two years. In 2008, 30west’s monster mare won this race in the midst of an eleven-race win streak that included the $1,000.000 BC F&M Sprint in her following start. She finished off her career with $3,508.830 in the bank. In 2012, Mwn Racing’s Avery Island won and came back in 2014 to win at age seven. Next race she won the grade one Zenyatta Stakes and then finished second in the BC Ladies Classic and retired right there at the top of her game with just over $4,000.000. As for repeat winning trainers of the race, it gets the usual boredom other than the owners of the horses I just talked about, there’s just one we always have to talk about, and that’s Mb Stable. Yes, he’s won the race twice, and yes, he’s here with two entries to go after win three, and yes, I’ve picked one of his to win. Enough of that. Here’s the race handicap:
Horse Owner Odds SRF
Untidy Mb Stables *3-1 100
Lady Lara Night Mare Racing 4-1 96
Nazca Lines Delta Farms 9-2 91
Military Made Spb Racing 5-1 102
Bla Bla Bla TwinTowersRacing 5-1 102
Vanessa Royalty Stables 6-1 98
Grandest Lady La Canada Racehorses 6-1 97
Old Mexico Mo Mentum Farm 8-1 93
Inginuity Mb Stables 6-1 90
Yeah Noha D J C Racing Stables 8-1 92
Heart Of Joy Royalty Stables 10-1 88
In Progress TwinTowersRacing 12-1 98
ae-Dipped In Love Invicta Group Llc 30-1 94
Vanessa ran an extended series of seven-furlong races between last August and April in which she appointed herself very well until the grade one. Since then she has placed second in the $200.000 Roxelana at CD, a six-furlong sprint, and second in the grade three Shawnee at CD at 1 1/16 miles but then came the grade one. You have to worry, she’s lightly raced and every time she sees grade one, she can’t make the finish.
2 Bla Bla Bla TwinTowersRacing 102
Last race was a corker. 15-1 longshot, dead last coming into the far turn in the 6 1/2 furlong grade two Great Lady M Stakes at LA and missed by a nose of taking the whole thing. Logic says: another half-furlong and she is the easy winner. Well, we all know it doesn’t really work that way, as illustrated by her win in the 6 1/2-furlong Cornucopia Stakes and then her third in the seven-furlong Santa Monica Stakes, but she looks to be at the top of her game right now. Just the usual problem with deep closers, worrying about how the speed sets up and how the timing works out. I like her from this post as long as doesn’t get traffic problems.
3 Untidy Mb Stables 100
Untidy just likes to make everything just that except her form. She likes to move everything out of her way, and it doesn’t matter the surface or distance of the race. Seven furlongs? Well, she’s only raced below a mile three times in her life, won her maiden at 6 1/2 furlongs and placed third in the grade one Derby City Distaff at CD. Most recently she handled the grade three Hendrie Stakes at WO at 6 1/2 furlongs as though it was a prep race for this race winning clear. I have to say this is a tight race, but I see her coming home first.
4 Heart Of Joy Royalty Stables 88
Her last four races have been grade one and she’s collected three checks, and the other one was a fifth, lord how I hate fifth. Anyway, all of those races were over a mile, so I have to wonder, does this lightly raced filly handle seven furlongs against this strong field when her only exposure to the distance was back in December in the $500.000 NY Stallion Series – Fifth Avenue at AQU?
5 Nazca Lines Delta Farms 91
I like the way this well-experienced filly is coming up to this race. I’ll ignore the fact that the last race was on turf, she just proved she can handle the green stuff when she has to, but this filly ran a strong closing fifth in the BC Fillies & Mares Sprint and has been dangerous ever since save those two weather doused disasters. I do hope her connections have checked the box that says ‘Dry Track Only’. Anyway, the win in the Colors at CD was fast and impressive dealing with a full field, followed by a strong third in the grade two Chicago Stakes at CD and most recently third again, this time in the $250.000 KD Preview Ladies Turf Sprint at ELP. All of that going to ranking her third in my handicap and a very strong chance to take it all.
6 Grandest Lady La Canada Racehorses 97
She certainly has been the grandest lady in a lot of her races, at least fourteen of them, and she prepped for this race just about as best any horse could with a come from behind victory in the grade two Honorable Miss Handicap at SAR at six furlongs. Since her loss in the BC Fillies & Mares Sprint she has been sprinting brilliantly and for the most part being insulted by the odds makers. You can understand as her connections have been bringing her along slowly and she earned her longshot status in the Honorable Miss because she was returning to graded racing after finishing off the board in an overnight. It was misleading if you looked closely at it. Yet after all that, here I am placing her seventh in my handicap. Well, there’s a reason for that: as I keep telling you, I’m an idiot. It does show, however, how tight this race is as this mare has every chance of winning and is my dark horse.
7 Inginuity Mb Stables 90
I think it’s safe to say that this is Mb Stables other horse in this race. Even at that, I’m not writing her off. She comes here off a muddy win in a 6 1/2-furlong starter that was no challenge but then was a fighting second in the grade three Distaff Handicap at AQU at seven furlongs back in April. I don’t think Mb Stables ever just throws a horse into a race. Who really knows where this lightly raced mare is going to end up, but Mb Stables claimed her from Boomtown for $12.500 in February and already has two stakes placings with her, so why not a grade one?
8 Yeah Noha D J C Racing Stables 92
Yeah Noha earned her way into the BC Fillies & Mares Sprint by winning the grade three ONT Fashion Stakes at WO. While the trip to the BC was not so successful, she came out of it OK with a third in the historic grade three Go For Wand Handicap at AQU. She hasn’t been challenged much recently and comes here off a second in an overnighter at SAR. We’ll have to see if she’s ready for another go at a grade one.
9 Military Made Spb Racing 102
I like this lass off that gritty win in the grade two Great Lady M Stakes at LA. Spb Racing claimed this mare from Luz International for $10.000 back in November 2023 and has been bringing her along carefully ever since. She was a sharp claim because she was winning for Luz. He only had her for three races, and he got two wins from her. After the claim, she immediately started winning and doing well enough that Spb Racing was encouraged to enter her in stakes races; and she kept winning and placing just as she had in the allowance races that they had stepped her up to. She seems to not care about class level. A race is a race, and she will give it her best. When she won the grade three Las Flores Stakes at SA, she was confirmed as a genuine graded stakes horse, and I think she’s a genuine threat in this grade one affair.
10 Old Mexico Mo Mentum Farm 93
Old Mexico was sold by Luz International to Mo Mentum Farm unraced for $200.000 who promptly entered her for her debut in the $100.000 Kendrick Memorial Stakes at SRP which, of course, she lost. Next: a maiden race which, of course, she won. Next: another State-Bred stakes race in which she placed, and so it went. She has basically been making her living off State-Bred stakes races. Then someone got the idea to stretch her out, and stretch her out they did,,, spectacularly. They chose the grade one Apple Blossom Handicap at OP at 1 1/16 miles… yep: grade one, yep: 1 1/16 miles. The result was a 1/2 length upset at 31-1. Now it’s been three races over a mile and she shows up here to drop back to seven furlongs. I think I’m going to have to see it to believe it.
11 In Progress TwinTowersRacing 98
In Progress doesn’t have any history or form to support her presence here. She’s been in and out of graded stakes races since 03, but only a couple of times above grade three and not that many graded altogether. She did win a $125.000 stakes four races ago at one mile at TP but has been out of the money in all three since. On the other hand, TwinTowersRacing are the masters at finding diamonds in the rough, so I wouldn’t be surprised.
12 Lady Lara Night Mare Racing 96
So, I get out to the car park not expecting to find much and what do I find? Just my second choice to win this race. Just the filly that ran third in the BC Fillies & Mares Sprint. Just the filly that came from out of the clouds to miss the win by a nose in the grade two Honorable Miss Handicap at SAR last out. How about grade one seven furlongs? How about second beaten only a half-length by Lady Sammyantha in the grade one Vinery Madison at KEE? And Lady Sammyantha is not here today to defend her title as The Sidley Stud chose a grade three to avoid this kind of contention. So, Night Mare Racing’s big problem will be how to take the outside post. Her last race was also from the outside post, and it worked pretty darned well letting her stay back at the break for her deep close. Whatever is decided, I expect to see her storming down the stretch in the final strides.
ae-13 Dipped In Love Invicta Group Llc 94
I’m not sure how they determine the also-eligible list here, but it looks a lot like someone was sitting around the break room at HRP and handicapped this race and came up with this horse as least chance, and they put it on the also-eligible list. There’s not much to recommend about this lass. She’s only had two graded races in only twelve starts and not been close. End of preview.
Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES