Bal a Bali, Stellar Wind in career-best form

ARCADIA, Calif.- Bal a Bali and Stellar Wind had secure reputations long before wins in Grade 1 stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday.

Bal a Bali, who won Saturday’s $400,690 Shoemaker Mile on turf, won the 2014 Rio Triple Crown in Brazil. Stellar Wind, who won the $368,000 Beholder Mile on dirt, was the champion 3-year-old filly of 2015.

Even with those accomplishments, their respective trainers – Richard Mandella and John Sadler – had common thoughts on Sunday morning. Both think their runners could be in career-best form.

Mandella thought Bal a Bali’s performance was “his best race.”

Sadler was even brighter.

“I think she has a chance to be better,” Sadler said. “She’s equally as good as last year.”

Bal a Bali earned a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 4 with his win in the Shoemaker Mile, which is part of the Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In program.

The free pass has changed the way Bal a Bali will be campaigned, Mandella said.

“It’s nice,” Mandella said. “You don’t have any pressure.”

Owned by Calumet Farm, Bal a Bali will be pointed to the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile, a $200,000 turf race on Aug. 20. Mandella said Bal a Bali will have another prep race in the Grade 2 City of Hope Mile or the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland in October before the BC Mile.

“I don’t want to do too much,” Mandella said.

Bal a Bali has never run in a Breeders’ Cup. He fought laminitis in the second half of 2014 and was not in top form in the fall of 2015. Last fall, Bal a Bali was not in training after being turned out last summer. Now 7, Bal a Bali resumed racing in March, winning the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile, his first victory at the highest level in the United States and first win since the Grade 3 American Stakes here in May 2015.

Stellar Wind was nearly the champion older female of 2016. Owned by Pete and Kosta Hronis, Stellar Wind won consecutive Grade 1 races in the Clement Hirsch at Del Mar last July and the Zenyatta Stakes here in October before finishing fourth after a poor start in the BC Distaff. Beholder clinched the 2016 champion older female title with her win in the BC Distaff.

Beholder, a four-time champion, was retired to be bred over the winter. The Beholder Mile was named in her honor last winter. The race was previously known as the Vanity Mile.

Stellar Wind is perfect in two starts this year, beginning with the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park on April 14.

In the three-runner Beholder Mile, Stellar Wind stalked pacesetter Vale Dori to the top of the stretch before prevailing by a neck in a quarter-mile duel.

Sadler said Stellar Wind will be pointed to the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar on July 30.

“It’s nice spacing, eight weeks,” Sadler said. “We don’t have to travel. Del Mar is a good track for her. She’s unbeaten there, but she’s only run twice.”

Stellar Wind won the Grade 3 Torrey Pines Stakes at Del Mar in 2015, her last start before a second in the BC Distaff at Keeneland that fall.

In the Beholder Mile, Vale Dori went past the $1 million mark in earnings with her second-place finish, to $1,074,943. The loss ended a six-race winning streak that included five consecutive graded stakes wins.

Last fall, Vale Dori was third, beaten 12 lengths by Stellar Wind in the Zenyatta Stakes. Trainer Bob Baffert said he was encouraged by her better finish on Saturday, which he considered proof of Vale Dori’s progress.

“It was basically a match race,” Baffert said. “With more horses, things happen. I was happy with her run. She can compete with those types. She went over $1 million.”

Vale Dori is a candidate for the $300,000 Clement Hirsch, Baffert said.

The Hirsch will not include Finest City, the champion female sprinter of 2016 who was third in the Beholder Mile.

She was never a factor in the Beholder Mile and has earned a brief vacation, according to trainer Ian Kruljac. Finest City was second in the Grade 1 Humana Distaff at Churchill Downs on May 6.

“She’s fine and needs more time between races,” he said. “She’ll get a freshening, at least 60 days.”

Finest City won the 2016 BC Filly and Mare Sprint and will be pointed for the same race at Del Mar on Nov. 4.

“She’ll have one more run before the Breeders’ Cup,” Kruljac said. “She needs to be fully charged. Live and learn.”