Bell's the One ready to ramp up for return in Madison at Keeneland

Bell’s the One, a Grade 1 winner last year and third in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, has rejoined trainer Neil Pessin’s barn and should post her first 2021 work in a week or 10 days, Pessin said. Bell’s the One was turned out at a Kentucky farm following the Breeders’ Cup but has resumed steady galloping in New Orleans.

“She’s training just as good or better than she ever has,” Pessin said.

Bell’s the One will make her 2021 debut in the Madison Stakes at Keeneland in April.

Pessin also unleashed a very promising debut winner Jan. 14 in Ready for Change, a Lothenbach Stables homebred who won an off-turf sprint by more than 11 lengths, earning an 88 Beyer Speed Figure. Ready for Change is a 4-year-old and had various relatively minor issues that delayed her debut, but she clearly has ample talent. Pessin said he intends to run the filly back in a first-level turf allowance as Ready for Change has a grass-leaning pedigree.

“We need to see which way to go with her,” Pessin said. “She’s horse I always really liked.”

Pessin entered Tell Your Daddy, another Lothenbach horse, in Thursday’s featured eighth race, a second-level, turf-sprint allowance with a $40,000 claiming option. Tell Your Daddy is in for the tag, dropping out of stakes and high-end allowance competition.

“This is where he belongs, and we wanted to put him in a spot he could win,” Pessin said.

Tell Your Daddy can handle dirt, but Pessin said he was more likely than not to scratch if the race comes off turf. On dirt, Sir Alfred James, trained by All Stall, looks like the horse to beat.