Somethinaboutlaura preps in Campanile

ALBANY, Calif. - The millionaire Somethinaboutlaura will try to get 2008 off on a winning note in Tuesday's $75,000 Campanile at Golden Gate Fields.

While the 1 1/16-mile race on the Tapeta main track is strictly a Sunshine Millions prep for the 7-year-old mare, she is the star attraction in the field of nine. And she may not be able to sit in cruise control most of the way as she did in winning the $75,000 Pacific Heights at the same distance here on Dec. 1.

Among her rivals are North Beach, coming off a victory in the Nov. 11 Miss America at 1 1/8 miles, and Wild Promises and Holy Nova, both of whom bring three-race win streaks into the race.

Holy Nova has been sprinting, while Wild Promises's victories have come when she has been a pace factor in turf routes.

Somethinaboutlaura has keen speed as well, although she does not need to be on the lead to win. She has won 6 of her past 7 starts, including the seven-furlong B. Thoughtful at Hollywood Park on a disqualification. She also won the Grade 2 A Gleam over the summer at Hollywood for the second straight year and the Luck Be a Lady at six furlongs on Oct. 13 at Bay Meadows.

She sat behind Special Heather in the Pacific Heights, moving into the lead on the second turn and defeating Swiss Current by a deceptive half-length.

"I didn't ask her for her best today," jockey Russell Baze said after the race when jockey Carlos Gonzalez suggested Swiss Current might have won had he moved sooner with her.

Somethinaboutlaura has won 17 times during a 30-race career while earning $1,008,865. She has made 20 starts, all in stakes, since trainer Jerry Hollendorfer and partners Charles Miller, John Sikura, and George Todaro bought her for $375,000 at the February 2006 Fasig-Tipton sale in Kentucky. She won 11 of those races and has earned $834,035 for that foursome of owners.

She has started in stakes in her last 24 starts and has run in 25 stakes during her career.

Hollendorfer said he has nominated Somethinaboutlaura to three Sunshine Millions races: the 1 1/16-mile Distaff on the main track at Gulfstream, the 1 1/8-mile Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita, and six-furlong Filly and Mare Sprint on the main track, also at Santa Anita. The Sunshine Millions will be run Jan. 26.

"I hope to make up my mind which race we'll point her to after this race," Hollendorfer said. "We want to keep racing all year, so I might lean to one of the races at Santa Anita rather than shipping across country, since shipping can take a lot out of horses."