Ballerina

TRACK BANDIT PREVIEWS

Three of the top dirt fillies in training will square off in the $300,000
Ballerina S. (G1) at Saratoga on Saturday. We though about siding elsewhere, but
we found it too hard to go against two-time champion INDIAN BLESSING (Indian
Charlie) in here. The Bob Baffert dynamo is a brilliant one-turn animal who
dominated in both tries on the Saratoga oval earlier in her career, and we see
little reason why she wouldn’t run this field off their feet as well. We hold
nothing against the four-year-old for finishing fourth on a synthetic surface last
out, and a wire-to-wire win on this occasion seems likely. John Velazquez will
be along for the ride.

We came very close to tabbing the stellar INFORMED DECISION (Monarchos), who
has never been better, but ultimately, had to settle for putting her in the exacta.
The peaking four-year-old has shown her versatility this year when winning Grade 1s
in the Humana Distaff on Churchill Downs’ dirt and Madison on Polytrack
at Keeneland for conditioner Jonathan Sheppard. In addition to the class of the
filly, her five-for-five mark at seven furlongs should not be taken lightly.
Julien Leparoux has the assignment.

Three-time Grade 1 stalwart MUSIC NOTE (A.P. Indy) was an uncharacteristic
fifth in the Ogden Phipps H. (G1) in her four-year-old bow but deserves another
chance in here for Saeed bin Suroor. The ultra talented Kentucky-bred ran a
monstrous race in her lone try over this oval when a game second in the Alabama
S. (G1) last summer, and if she can negotiate the cut back in distance, which we
think she will, she’ll be flying late beneath Rajiv Maragh. We expect the bay to
be a huge overlay due to her last showing.

Horses who run well over this strip should never be taken lightly, leading
us to believe that TAR HEEL MOM (Flatter) deserves respect against these beasts.
The Stanley Hough-trained filly was a 5 1/4-length allowance winner last out and
dusted similar foes by the same margin last summer, earning BRIS Speed figures
of 103 and 96 for her pair of facile wins. While the four-year-old lacks the
class of the top trio, she adores this oval and has top rider Alan Garcia
aboard.

Honorable Miss H. (G2) third P. S. U. GRAD (Harlan’s Holiday) lacked room on
the inside last out in her debut for Baffert, and we find it a bit odd that the
silver-haired trainer would enter another with Indian Blessing. We’ve long
stopped questioning the Hall of Fame conditioner, so throwing this one in the
gimmicks won’t cost much.

MODIFICATION (Vindication) has outrun her odds on a few occasions this year
but looks in deep against these.