Blind Luck to skip Apple Blossom for La Troienne

ARCADIA, Calif. – Blind Luck, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2010, will skip Friday’s $500,000 Apple Blossom Invitational at Oaklawn Park in favor of the $300,000 La Troienne Stakes at Churchill Downs on May 6, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said on Monday.

“It’s a big purse and all that,” Hollendorfer said of the Apple Blossom, “but I think the Churchill Downs stretch is better for her to close from off the pace.”

Blind Luck has won 9 of 18 starts and $2,478,712 but is winless in her last five starts, all graded stakes, including a runner-up finish in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic at Churchill Downs last fall. Last April, Blind Luck won the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs, which is run on the same program as the La Troienne Stakes.

This year, Blind Luck has been second in three starts – the Grade 2 El Encino Stakes and Grade 2 La Canada Stakes at Santa Anita and the Grade 3 Azeri Stakes at Oaklawn Park on March 19, her most recent start.

Hollendorfer said a start in the La Troienne Stakes would likely lead Blind Luck to an appearance in the $250,000 Vanity Handicap at Hollywood Park on June 18, a Grade 1 stakes run over 1 1/8 miles on the synthetic main track.