Sweet Lulu headed back to California off Test victory

Sweet Lulu (inside) passed the stakes “Test” with flying colors to remain perfect in four career starts (Jessie Holmes/EquiSport Photos) Steve Beneto’s Sweet Lulu, who remained unbeaten in four starts with a narrow victory in the Grade 1, $500,000 Test on Saturday at Saratoga, emerged from the race in good shape and will fly back to California on Tuesday, according to Christina Jelm, assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. In the winner’s circle following the Test, Hollendorfer said he has no immediate plans for Sweet Lulu but will keep an eye on the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint in November at Santa Anita as a long-term objective. “(Hollendorfer will) get her home and just let her settle back in, and then they’ll start looking at what the next options would be,” Jelm said. “He usually spans about a month between races with these better horses. We’ll see how she progresses out of this, but so far she is as good coming out of it as she was going into it.” The Test was the first start on dirt, and in a stakes, for Sweet Lulu, who had all three of her prior races over synthetic surfaces at Hollywood Park and Del Mar.

In the Test, Sweet Lulu dueled early, took the lead on the
turn, briefly lost the top spot to Wildcat Lily in the stretch, and came back
along the inside to win by a head.

“Most people would have thought this was a big jump for
this filly, but (Hollendorfer) was very confident in here,” Jelm said. “She has
everything you want in a horse: pedigree, conformation, size, attitude, heart,
personality.”

Since 2010, Hollendorfer, who is based in California, has
made seven starts in New York, also winning the 2010 Alabama with Blind
Luck and this year’s Metropolitan Handicap with Sahara Sky. He also was
third in the 2012 Alabama with Via Villaggio and second in this year’s Carter Handicap with Sahara Sky.

“(Hollendorfer) does everything right,” Jelm noted. “Everything is top class.
His horses are trained properly. He’s a top conditioner. His assistant, Dan
Ward, has everything down pat in Southern California.

“I don’t know anybody who works as hard as Jerry. He’s at the barn every day
at 3 a.m. He lets them develop properly and let them tell him what they need to
do and when they need to do it.”

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