La Verdad, Dame Dorothy square off in Ballerina
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Seven of the eight entrants in the Grade 1 Ballerina on Saturday at Saratoga enter off victories, but it is hard to get by La Verdad and Dame Dorothy, who share high weight of 124 pounds.
The $500,000 Ballerina is a seven-furlong Win and You’re In race for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland on Oct. 31. This week both Linda Rice, the trainer of La Verdad, and Todd Pletcher, who oversees Dame Dorothy, said their horses were under consideration for the race, even though they would likely take different paths to get there.
La Verdad, now 5, is undefeated in four starts this year. The blazingly fast daughter of Yes It’s True has reeled off wins in the Grade 2 Distaff, Grade 3 Vagrancy, the Dancin Renee over New York-breds, and the Grade 2 Honorable Miss. Although she had a very good campaign at 4, winning 6 of 11 starts, she seems improved this season.
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“We gave her the winter off and she’s a little more relaxed, more settled this year,” Rice said. “She had been in training for a year and for months without a break by the end of last season.”
La Verdad is not Breeders’ Cup-eligible and, according to BC officials, it would require a $100,000 horses of racing age nomination to make her eligible.
“Last year we decided not to pay her up for the Breeders’ Cup,” Rice said. “She wasn’t at her best at the end of the season, and there was the climate change issue with the race being in California. But since we plan on sending her to the breeding shed next year, it is a consideration now.”
Rice said La Verdad could run next in the Grade 2, $300,000 Gallant Bloom, a 6 1/2-furlong race at Belmont Park on Sept. 26.
Dame Dorothy comes into the Ballerina off victories in the Grade 3 Bed o’ Roses and the Grade 1 Humana Distaff. Although she has a trio of 1 1/16-mile wins, Pletcher said seven furlongs is her best distance.
“We’ve been concentrating on the seven-furlong races with her. This is what we think she does best,” he said. “We’ve found her niche.”
The Ballerina could be Dame Dorothy’s final race before the Breeders’ Cup.
“We’ve been talking about going straight from this race to the Breeders’ Cup,” Pletcher said.
KEY CONTENDERS
La Verdad (Last 3 Beyers: 102-101-101)
◗ She is winless in two career starts at seven furlongs but seems capable of getting the distance this year.
Dame Dorothy (Last 3 Beyers: 95-93-87)
◗ Seven for 9 in her career, she is Bobby Flay’s most accomplished runner since More Than Real, who won the Grade 2 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf in 2010.
Street Story (Last 3 Beyers: 92-92-87)
◗ She has finished second to La Verdad in the Grade 2 Honorable Miss and Dame Dorothy in the Grade 3 Bed o’ Roses in her last two races. She may not be all that far behind the top two ability-wise.
Unbridled Forever (Last 3 Beyers: 96-93-86)
◗ She closed well to defeat classy front-runner Stonetastic in the seven-furlong Shine Again while making her 4-year-old debut on Aug. 5 for Dallas Stewart. It’s possible she may be best in one-turn races.
Merry Meadow (Last 3 Beyers: 99-37-96)
◗ She enters off a sharp win for trainer Mark Hennig in the Grade 2 Princess Rooney at Gulfstream Park.