What was billed as a showdown between brilliant 'TDN Rising Stars' Unique Bella (Tapit) and Paradise Woods (Union Rags) lived up to expectations as the former bested her accomplished main rival by a fairly comfortable 3/4 of a length to earn a much-deserved first Grade I tally. Mopotism (Uncle Mo) filled out the trifecta.
Backed early and often and always the public's pick over Paradise Woods, Unique Bella was off at 6-5 to that foe's 2-1 odds. Away in midpack, the powerful grey was gathered up by Mike Smith and guided well off the inside before advancing into third outside of Paradise Woods. She was asked for more when Paradise Woods snuck up the fence to take over through a :44.43 half, and the stage was set as they hit the quarter pole in lockstep. Paradise Woods cornered better and looked like she might have had more in the tank, but Unique Bella chipped away at her in the run to the line while never quite asked for all she had.
“She broke really well today and I got her going,” Smith said. “I was concerned about going too fast early. That was the problem in the Breeders' Cup [Filly & Mare Sprint]. She has been training very aggressively in the mornings, so that was my concern. She relaxed and rated and was happy with the pace she had to run today. She gave it all she had to get the job done.”
Tuesday, Santa Anita
LA BREA S.-GI, $301,035, SA, 12-26, 3yo, f, 7f, 1:21.49, ft.
1–UNIQUE BELLA, 122, f, 3, by Tapit&log=#tot">Tapit
1st Dam: Unrivaled Belle (GISW, $1,854,706),
by Unbridled's Song
2nd Dam: Queenie Belle, by Bertrando
3rd Dam: Lady Argyle, by Don B.
'TDN Rising Star' 1ST GRADE I WIN. ($400,000 Ylg '15 KEESEP).
O-Don Alberto Stable; B-Brushwood Stable (PA); T-Jerry
Hollendorfer; J-Mike E. Smith. $180,000. Lifetime Record:
8-6-1-0, $592,400. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*.
Click for eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.[bullet ad=”stonestreet-trainingalum”][bullet ad=”eaton-sold”]2–Paradise Woods, 124, f, 3, by Union Rags
1st Dam: Wild Forest, by Forest Wildcat
2nd Dam: Uforia, by Zilzal
3rd Dam: Long Legend, by Reviewer
'TDN Rising Star' O-Steven Sarkowsky, Martin & Pam Wygod;
B-Herman Sarkowsky (KY); T-Richard E. Mandella. $60,000.[bullet ad=”hidden-brook-hidden-brook-foaled-raised”][bullet ad=”blackwood-graduate-2″]3–Mopotism, 120, f, 3, by Uncle Mo
1st Dam: Peppy Rafaela, by Bernardini
2nd Dam: Peppy Lapeau, by French Deputy
3rd Dam: Peppy Raja, by Raja Baba
($135,000 Wlg '14 KEENOV; $200,000 Ylg '15 FTSAUG;
$300,000 2yo '16 FTFMAR). O-Reddam Racing LLC; B-Frank T.
Batten (KY); T-Doug F. O'Neill. $36,000.[bullet ad=”blandford-stud-foaled-and-sold”][bullet ad=”mcmahon-and-hill-purchased-as-a-wnlg”][bullet ad=”hidden-brook-sales-graduate”][bullet ad=”crupi-trained”][bullet ad=”grovendale-dame”]Margins: 3/4, 1 3/4, NK. Odds: 1.30, 2.00, 15.90.
Also Ran: Marley's Freedom, Just a Little Hope, Princess Karen, Faypien, Miss Sunset. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
Second behind eventual stakes winner and two-time Grade II-placed Chalon (Dialed In) first up going five panels here in June of her juvenile season, Unique Bella thrashed her foes by 10 1/4 lengths next out at Del Mar that November as the hype mounted. She added a facile tally over fellow 'Rising Star' and GISW It Tiz Well (Arch) in the track-and-trip GII Santa Ynez S. in early January, and defeated Mopotism and juvenile champion Champagne Room (Broken Vow) I the GII Las Virgenes. Finishing 2 1/4 lengths to the good of likely champion 3-year-old filly Abel Tasman (Quality Road) in the GIII Santa Ysabel S. Mar. 4, she was forced to the sidelines with a shin injury, as Paradise Woods absolutely romped in the GI Santa Anita Oaks and Abel Tasman took the GI Kentucky Oaks. Unique Bella picked things back up with a 3 1/2-length success in the GIII LA Woman S. Oct. 8, but faded to seventh after setting a hot pace as the favorite in the GI Breeders' Cup F/M Sprint Nov. 4.
“We never lost confidence in her,” said trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, who also conditioned fellow 'Rising Star' and this year's GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile hero Battle of Midway (Smart Strike), a fellow (co-)representative of emerging powerhouse Don Alberto Corp. “We worked with her and got her to run a good race today–thank God. Mike and I both thought she went too fast early last time, and she didn't finish. Today, he let her lay a little off the pace and kept her wide and she finished well. I have confidence in Unique Bella. She gets into it and I thought she'd beat [Paradise Woods], and down the lane, she did it.”
Pedigree Notes:
Unique Bella is the second foal out of 2010 GI Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic winner Unrivaled Belle, who also won that year's GII La Troienne S. and GIII Rampart S. and placed in four other Grade I races. The 11-year-old mare topped last year's Keeneland November sale when selling for $3.8 million to Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm carrying a full-sister to Unique Bella who was born Jan. 24. Unrivaled Belle, a daughter of MGSW Queenie Belle (Bertrando), is also responsible for the juvenile filly Relicario (Malibu Moon), a $550,000 KEESEP yearling buy. She was bred back to Tapit earlier this season.
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