Hidden Connection rounding back to her best form
The connections of Hidden Connection felt the 3-year-old filly would improve going sprint to route while making her second start following a five-month layoff, and they were correct.
Third when beaten three lengths while earning a 76 Beyer Speed Figure in her Nov. 13 sprint comeback at Churchill Downs, Hidden Connection on Dec. 17 at Fair Grounds won a second-level, dirt-route allowance race by seven lengths, jumping up to an 86 Beyer that’s just two points off the career top she hit finishing second behind Echo Zulu in the Fair Grounds Oaks this past March.
:: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match and FREE Formulator PPs! Join DRF Bets.
Racing along the rail just behind the speed while always in the bridle for jockey Reylu Gutierrez, Hidden Connection was taken three paths wide between rivals at the quarter pole during Friday’s seventh race, going on to an easy win despite making some mistakes. As soon as she hit the front, Hidden Connection’s head swiveled toward the grandstand, and she was slow to change leads after cornering into the homestretch. Gutierrez finally got the filly to switch, but his subsequent left-handed crop likely contributed to Hidden Connection’s drifting out the final three-sixteenths of a mile, though she ran relatively straight through the final half-furlong, won with her ears up, and galloped out well.
Bret Calhoun, who trains Hidden Connection for Hidden Brook Farm and Black Type Thoroughbreds, said Sunday that there was nothing concerning behind the filly’s run through the homestretch. To the contrary, Calhoun has been pleased that Hidden Connection now has gotten through preparatory training and two races without bleeding since it was an occurrence of EIPH, exercise induced pulmonary hemorrhage, in the Kentucky Oaks that led to the filly’s extended absence.
Hidden Connection has raced on the anti-bleeder medication Lasix in her two starts this fall but will be without it when she returns to graded-stakes competition early in 2023. Calhoun said her likely target was the Grade 3, $300,000 Houston Ladies Classic on Jan. 28, though the Feb. 4 Bayakoa at Oaklawn hasn’t entirely been ruled out.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.