No Breeders' Cup for Blind Luck

In the aftermath of her shockingly dull effort in the Lady’s Secret Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday, Blind Luck will be given a rest and will not compete in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic, her trainer and co-owner, Jerry Hollendorfer, said Sunday morning.

Hollendorfer said Blind Luck is going to get a vacation, “whether she needs one or not.”

Hollendorfer said Blind Luck was “doing fine” Sunday morning, and that he had yet to find a reason for her lackadaisical effort. “Nothing at all,” he said. Included in her post-race evaluation was an endoscopic test to see if she had bled, but Hollendorfer said that, and all other tests, had thus far turned up nothing.

Blind Luck had been a paragon of consistency until Saturday. In her previous 21 starts, she had won 12, and finished in the money every time. But in the Lady’s Secret, she finished last of seven, was eased in the final yards by jockey Garrett Gomez, and wound up 18 3/4 lengths behind the victorious Zazu.

With Blind Luck out of the Ladies’ Classic, and Havre de Grace headed to the BC Classic against males, the top two females in the country are both now bypassing that race, leaving 3-year-olds such as Zazu, Beldame runner-up Royal Delta, and Cotillion Stakes winner Plum Pretty among the leading contenders.