Baby Bird carefully spotted

ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. said he has had Baby Bird ready to run for quite some time. But, he purposely waited to bring her back to the races at Belmont Park, where the 4-year-old filly is undefeated from three starts.

In a third-level allowance race at one mile on Friday at Belmont, Dutrow appears to have found the ideal spot in which to bring Baby Bird back. Baby Bird, away from the races for 10 months, will face four rivals, including Windy, a good-looking second-level allowance winner last month at Saratoga.

Baby Bird, a daughter of Cape Town, won her first two starts here during the Belmont spring/summer meet of 2006. After running poorly in an overnight stakes at Saratoga, Baby Bird returned to Belmont and won a one-mile allowance race by 5 3/4 lengths, beating Sugar Shake, who has since turned into a multiple Grade 1 winner for trainer Bobby Frankel.

Baby Bird then ran third in the Grade 2 Cotillion at Philadelphia Park before running second to the talented Leah's Secret in the Anne Arundel at Laurel Park last November.

Baby Bird was training regularly in south Florida until the end of January, when she was diagnosed with a problem in a knee. She was off for several months before returning to the work tab in late June.

"We never had to do anything but wait," Dutrow said. "I could've run her at Saratoga, but she ran terrible there last year and then she came back here and beat one of Frankel's good ones. I decided not to take any chances and wait to run her over a track I know she likes. She's ready to run."

Cornelio Velasquez will ride Baby Bird from post 2.

Her major competition figures to come from Windy, who has won her last three races run over conventional dirt surfaces. That entails going back to last summer at Del Mar, where she won two allowance races. In between she ran three times on synthetic surfaces and once on turf.

Windy looked very strong in her last start, winning a second-level allowance race by 3 1/2 lengths at Saratoga going seven furlongs. This will be her first try at a mile.

"I want to stretch her out; this is the best way to stretch her out," Frankel said. "The way she ran seven-eighths, I don't think [one mile] will bother her. We'll see how good she is."

Lucky Revival comes off a 10-length second-level allowance win at Monmouth Park for Bruce Levine. Homerette and Artistic Express are restricted stakes winners on dirt.