![]() Apparently, Hollendorfer knows how to get the job done. Such a Grade 3 event for a pittance of a purse would seem to be beneath her, but the race is a means to the end, or at least to the immediate goal of the Kentucky Oaks in May. Now, that filly is Songbird, the undefeated champion of her 2-year-old division last year who will be making her second start at 3 on Saturday in the $100,000 Santa Ysabel Stakes at Santa Anita. Jockey Mike Smith and Songbird in the winner's circle after a victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. Since 1991, the year he ventured east from his Bay Area lair to win the Kentucky Oaks and Coaching Club American Oaks with Lite Light, nearly every time Hollendorfer makes national headlines, it is with a world-class filly. Still, there is little doubt that Hollendorfer is in the Hall of Fame because of his fillies. In a career of more than 7,000 winners, it would figure that both genders would be well represented. ![]() Jerry Hollendorfer has handled his fair share of accomplished males, topped by Shared Belief and including Dakota Phone, Sahara Sky, Heatseeker, Event of the Year, and King Glorious. But his greatest legacy rests upon what he did with filly champions like Ginger Punch, Wandesta, Possibly Perfect, Banks Hill, and Intercontinental.Īs for Larry Jones, he can insist all day long that he really did train Hard Spun, a very good colt, even though it has been the fillies Proud Spell, Believe You Can, I'm a Chatterbox, Eight Belles, Joyful Victory, and Havre de Grace keeping his name in lights. Hall of Famer Robert Wheeler was a trainer of fabulous fillies, as anyone who tried to beat Silver Spoon, Bug Brush, Miss Todd, Track Robbery, and Taisez Vous can attest.īobby Frankel trained Ghostzapper, sure, and Empire Maker, too. ![]() Stripped of context and nuance, an individual will be reduced to his or her most obvious signature on the cultural landscape: Leader of the Free World, Box Office Poison, Short-Fingered Vulgarian. Derby off Labor Day to later in September and then combine it with the Cotillion has put its September Saturday squarely on the national racing map, with big-money purses, plenty of bonus cash and perfect timing as final preps for the Breeders' Cup.Anyone who accomplishes a great deal in the hot glare of the public spotlight is in jeopardy at some point of being typecast. Derby is coming soon enough as the track's decision to move the Pa. and they won before they ran in the Derby. So the great Bid and the great Smarty are still the only Derby winners to win at the track on Street Road. Exaggerator was never in the race and finished seventh. Derby at the top of the stretch, before tiring in the final few hundred yards, getting the wrong end of a four-way photo for third, eventually finishing sixth behind 10-1 winner Connect. Nyquist actually looked like he could win the Pa. They bet $9.6 million, second most in track history only to the $10.3 million generated when should-have-been Triple Crown winner California Chrome came to Parx in 2014, headlining a 13-race card. She took $476,158 of the $563,132 in the show pool and was 3-10 in the win pool.īettors across the country responded to Songbird, the presence of Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist and Preakness winner Exaggerator in the $1.25 million Pennsylvania Derby and three other stakes on a 12-race card. She was not only appreciated for her performance she was bet like the closest thing to a sure thing. For now, Songbird's Parx appearance will be hard to forget. "There's some big cheese in that race, but that's the fun of it, hook the big ones and hopefully beat 'em," Porter said. 4 at Santa Anita in the Breeders' Cup Distaff. But she dazzles every time, unbeaten for 14 months now, a final 2016 race scheduled for Nov. She ran the mile and sixteenth in 1:44.02. "It doesn't get any better than to watch her today, she was just gorgeous," said Songbird's owner, Rick Porter, of Wilmington. It was quite the scene at Parx, the parking lots jammed, the grandstand overflowing, the apron by the rail filled with fans just wanting to catch a glimpse of the filly that never loses. The 3-year-old filly is now 11-for-11 and no member of her age group has been close at the finish as she has won her races by a combined 60 lengths. Everybody saw, at the very least, the most accomplished horse to walk into the Parx Racing winner's circle on Saturday when Songbird simply ran away from some high-quality competition in the stretch to win the $1 million Cotillion Stakes by 5 3/4 lengths. ![]() ![]() When it was called Philadelphia Park, it was Smarty Jones when he won the first two races of his career on Nov. WHEN THE TRACK in Bensalem was called Keystone, the best horse to walk into the winner's circle was Spectacular Bid when he won the Heritage Stakes on Nov. ![]()
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