Hard Not to Love upsets Bellafina in La Brea Stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. – When Hard Not to Love first came to Santa Anita, trainer John Shirreffs said she wouldn’t go through the tunnel from the paddock to the track. When there was a helicopter circling above her recently, “She panicked because she couldn’t see it,” Shirreffs said.

Having one eye has left her with some understandable psychological quirks, including being reluctant, as she was on Saturday, to initially break off in the post parade. But the work done by Shirreffs and his team, and now including jockey Mike Smith, has paid off, most significantly on Saturday, when Hard Not to Love rallied from last to first in the nine-horse field to take the Grade 1, $301,404 La Brea Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Santa Anita.

The win was a milestone one for Smith, who equaled fellow Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey’s record of 216 Grade 1 victories in North America.

“Just to equal a guy like Jerry Bailey is amazing,” said Smith, who rode for years against Bailey in New York and Florida.

Hard Not to Love ($25.20) benefitted from a hot early pace – 21.70 seconds for the quarter, 44.41 seconds for the half – in the seven-furlong race that weakened Bellafina, the 3-5 favorite, and Mother Mother. Hard Not to Love swooped past them inside the furlong pole and went on to prevail by 2 1/4 lengths. Bellafina held on for second, with Mother Mother a length farther back in third.

First Star was fourth, then came, in order, Bell’s the One, Del Mar May, Stirred, Motion Emotion, and Free Cover.

Hard Not to Love was timed in 1:22.17 on the fast main track.

“Getting a Grade 1 with a filly is huge, and especially to see her do it against the fillies in this field,” Shirreffs said.

Fans sitting in the stands might have wondered if Hard Not to Love would make it to the gate. She balked numerous times when asked by Smith to jog off and join the post parade, and only patient coaxing finally got her to go. Asked if he was afraid she’d not move along, Shirreffs said, “There’s no telling with her.”

“She does that all the time,” he said, though both he and Smith acknowledged this was her worst pre-race behavior.

“John Shirreffs and Cisco Alvarado,” Smith said, referring to Shirreffs’s assistant, “have done so much work with her. Nice to see it pay off. She takes a lot of work, but she’s worth it.”

Smith said “Every day is a different day with her.” He said he’s learned in the post parade to try and turn her, and to relax when she relaxes.

Clearly the work he has put in with her, coupled with the significance of the victory, meant a lot, as Smith pumped his fist when crossing the wire.

“When Mike decided to ride her, he put his horsemanship on the line,” Shirreffs said.

Hard Not to Love, a daughter of Hard Spun, has now won four times in five starts, all around one turn. She is out of the Vindication mare Loving Vindication, making her a half-sister to Queen’s Plate winner Wonder Gadot.

Bellafina continued a frustrating run of late for trainer Simon Callaghan and owner Kaleem Shah. In less than two months, they have finished second in four Grade 1 races, with Bellafina in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint and the La Brea, and with the 2-year-old filly Donna Veloce in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and the Los Alamitos Starlet.

“Ran good again,” Callaghan said. “Had another filly that sat on her girth the whole way, and got beat by an improving filly who maybe got a race that set up.”