Bellafina all business in half-mile workout

ARCADIA, Calif. – A little later than expected, Bellafina, the expected favorite for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Churchill Downs on Nov. 2, had her final workout at Santa Anita on Thursday, going a half-mile in 47.40 seconds.

The workout was delayed by approximately 10 minutes to allow a horse ambulance to transport a horse off the track who had pulled up in the stretch while exercising.

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The delay did not seem to bother Bellafina, who stood quietly against the outside rail of the turn.

“She’s content standing and that’s good,” trainer Simon Callaghan said. “It would be worse if we had an anxious horse.”

Bellafina worked alone and finished with interest. Callaghan timed her final furlong in 11 seconds. He clocked Bellafina galloping out five furlongs in 1:00.60.

A Quality Road filly owned by Kaleem Shah, Bellafina has won three consecutive graded stakes at Del Mar and Santa Anita, including the Grade 1 Chandelier Stakes at 1 1/16 miles by 6 1/4 lengths on Sept. 29. Since that race, Bellafina has had two half-mile workouts, and one at five furlongs.

“She had three breezes, which is good,” Callaghan said. “It gives her a good foundation. You don’t have to push too much, just keep them the way they are.”

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Bellafina has won 3 of 4 starts and earned $488,000. At the Del Mar summer meeting, she won the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs for her first win and followed with a victory in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante at seven furlongs on Sept. 1.

Bellafina was scheduled to be flown to Churchill Downs early Friday.

La Force, second in three consecutive Grade 1 races since early June, worked five furlongs in 1:00.20 in advance of the BC Distaff on Nov. 3.

Trained by Paddy Gallagher, La Force was beaten three-quarters of a length by Vale Dori in the Zenyatta Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Sept. 30. Vale Dori is also pre-entered for the BC Distaff, which is run at 1 1/8 miles.

La Force, a 4-year-old German-bred mare by Power, has won 2 of 22 starts and earned $370,800. She has yet to win a stakes.

Anonymity, second in the Grade 3 L.A. Woman Stakes for fillies and mares on Oct. 7, worked five furlongs in 1:00.20 for the BC Filly and Mare Sprint on Nov. 3.

Trained by Richard Mandella, Anonymity will be an outsider in the BC Filly and Mare Sprint. She was second in the Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Handicap at Del Mar in August.