Always a Princess works swift five furlongs

Bob Baffert thought he had the competition "over a barrel'' in the 1998 Juvenile Fillies with Silverbulletday. He was pretty confident entering the 2007 Juvenile Fillies with Indian Blessing as well. Five days out from the 26th running of the Juvenile Fillies, Baffert is more hopeful than confident in the chances of Always a Princess in what is shaping up a very competitive race.

"You know you have a chance to win it, but they have to get lucky,'' said Baffert, who won the first four races on Sunday's card here. "You don't come into the Breeders' Cup [thinking] 'I can't lose this.' I could win if everything goes well, like my pick four [Sunday]. That was so much fun.''

Baffert put Always a Princess through her final workout Sunday morning and the filly went a rapid five furlongs in 58.50 seconds. In an effort to try and get Always a Princess to relax, Baffert put her behind stablemate Miss Heather Lee, but Always a Princess got to her sooner than Baffert would have liked.

"I sort of screwed the work up,'' he said. "I should have had her further behind the other horse, but she worked nice.''

After coming from well off the pace to win her debut sprinting, Always a Princess set the pace in the Grade 1 Oak Leaf before settling for second behind Blind Luck.

"She broke a little flat-footed so he got her in there,'' Baffert said, referring to jockey Garrett Gomez. "It was her first time going long. First time going long I like them up on the pace.''

Baffert said he would leave race strategy up to Gomez.

"I get them ready I throw Garrett on there,'' Baffert said. "It's all about the break. Once they break, then you decide what you're going to do.''