ARCADIA, Calif. – It should take less than 1:49 for Ballet Dancing to run a mile and one-eighth on turf in the featured sixth race Friday at Santa Anita, but the stage was set 15 years ago at Sandown Park in England. Simon Callaghan trains Ballet Dancing, an improving filly whom jockey Frankie Dettori rode to a decisive Santa Anita entry-level allowance victory on Dec. 26. Although she was the first U.S. winner for the team of Callaghan and Dettori, the trainer-jockey combo goes back a long way. “He actually rode my first graded stakes win in England,” Callaghan recalled. Finalmente was a 16-1 longshot under Dettori winning a Group 2 marathon at Sandown in May 2008. “Frankie used to ride a lot for my dad [Neville Callaghan]; he won Group 1s for my dad.” Simon Callaghan, 39, relocated to California in 2009 and operates a prominent stable that has won 48 graded stakes. This winter at Santa Anita, Ballet Dancing may give Callaghan and Dettori a chance to relive the Sandown Park memory if she runs as expected on Friday. Ballet Dancing is likely to start favored in the second-level turf allowance, race 6. Eight fillies and mares are entered; Ballet Dancing’s main rivals are Phil D’Amato-trained Buzz of New York and Macadamia, two-three last out in a similar allowance at Del Mar. Others entered include stretch-out Gold for Kitten, Freedom Lass, Tik Tok Famous, Dramatizer, and Kuora. :: Get Santa Anita Clocker Reports straight from the morning workouts at the track. Available every race day.  None are sharper than 4-year-old Ballet Dancing, a Medaglia d’Oro filly purchased as a yearling for $800,000 and entering the prime of her career. “She’s a filly we’ve always liked, but we knew she was going to take a bit of time,” Callaghan said. “She’s a big filly that is just sort of now filling that frame.” Ballet Dancing finished third in her career debut at age 2, took six months off, and won a maiden race in her 2022 comeback. She followed with a third in a Grade 3, and finished a creditable fifth in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks. This winter, she has reached top form. Following a troubled fifth at Del Mar by Ballet Dancing, Callaghan switched riders to Dettori on opening day of the Santa Anita winter meet. Ballet Dancing raced two wide while forwardly placed, attacked three wide on the far turn, rolled her final three furlongs in 34.97 and won the mile and one-eighth turf race in full stride. If she repeats the performance Friday, Ballet Dancing will be tough to beat. “Hopefully it’s a stepping-stone to the mile and one-quarter Grade 3 in early March,” Callaghan said, referring to the $100,000 Santa Ana Stakes on March 12. Callaghan said he has been able to train around the weather, and expects another top effort Friday. “We’ve been on a good pattern breeze-wise with her; we haven’t missed anything,” Callaghan said. “And these turf fillies, you don’t need to train like a dirt horse. [Weather] has not been an issue.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.