Happily Unbridled

The amazing filly, Indian Blessing, continued her routine domination of her sprint competitors by cruising easily to a 6 1/4 length victory in the Gallant Bloom Handicap (gr II) at Belmont on Saturday.

Sugar Swirl, her chief rival, was scratched by trainer Bobby Frankel which reduced the field to four for 6 1/2 furlong race.

Indian Blessing was the 3-10 favorite and broke from the rail. She was briefly pressured by Zada Belle in the early part of the race and by Elope in the upper stretch but responded to her jockey, Corey Nakatani’s, urging and drew away quickly from her rivals.This was the first time Nakatani had ridden the filly in any of her races.

The Bob Baffert trainee may now be heading for the Breeders’ Cup. She’s been so superior to female sprinters that it’s possible she will take on the boys in the Sentient Breeders’ Cup Sprint (gr I) on October 25 at Santa Anita.

This talented daughter of Indian Charlie has now won eight of ten starts with two runner-up finishes. She has five Grade I wins and was the front running winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last year which, along with the fact that she was undefeated at 2, wrapped up the 2007 Eclipse Award honors.

Fillies have always done pretty well when taking on the colts in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint races. Indian Blessing may just be the next female to best the boys in this prestigious arena. Let’s hope she stays healthy and happy and we’ll be looking for her in the Breeders’ Cup next month.

Go Baby Go!

Indian Blessing was to be the favorite going into this $300,000 Grade I Ruffian Handicap race at Belmont Park on September 6. However, she was scratched by her connections (trainer Bob Baffert and owner Hal Earnhart) after they decided to keep her in the shorter sprint races. Fortunately, there is another filly in Baffert’s barn … Tough Tiz’s Sis. This is the daughter of one of our favorite race horses, Tiznow, who won the Breeders’ Cup Classic twice and is becoming one of the best sires of this generation.

The Belmont Park track was sloppy on Saturday due to Tropical Storm Hanna making her way across the region. Tough Tiz’s Sis has run unsuccessfully on wet tracks three times before — she finished a distant seventh, more than 16 lengths back in her last start on a wet track, the Breeder’s Cup Distaff (gr I) last October — but on Saturday she showed that she’s apparently inherited her daddy’s love of the Belmont track as she splashed home to victory by 12 1/4 lengths. She was ridden by Edgar Prado whose only instruction from the trainer was to keep her face clean … she doesn’t like getting dirt (or mud) in her face and that fact certainly contributed to her poor performance in last year’s Distaff.

Copper State, Stage Luck, and Miraculous Miss rounded out the top four finishers. The winner was the third choice betting favorite and paid $10.60, $6.20 and $4.00.

Tough Tiz’s Sis is a tough competitor in her own right and it will be exciting to watch her in her next race … she was definitely the best of all in the Ruffian Handicap.

Go Baby Go!