For Songbird and Hollendorfer, the beat goes on

ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer missed his favorite filly last November.

After Songbird won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Keeneland in October, she was turned out for a month at a Kentucky farm. Hollendorfer recalled last weekend being as much relieved as excited when she returned to his stable in Southern California in early December.

“Any trainer, you hate to turn them loose for a minute,” he said. “I was a little anxious when she was out for a month.”

Since her return, Songbird has extended her unbeaten record to five races and continues to attract attention as one of the finest fillies of recent years. On Saturday at Santa Anita, Songbird will make her second start of 2016 in the $100,000 Santa Ysabel Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. She will be a heavy favorite in the Grade 3 race at 1 1/16 miles.

Owned by Rick Porter, Songbird arrived at Hollendorfer’s stable with high expectations last spring. She was purchased for $400,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling sale in August 2014.

“A lot of the horses that Rick Porter buys are higher level that cost more,” Hollendorfer said last weekend. “You tend to expect more when they come in.”

Songbird’s early training drew the attention of outside observers. She was 2-1 for her debut at Del Mar last July, winning a maiden race at 5 1/2 furlongs by 6 1/2 lengths.

“We liked her a lot when we started her,” Hollendorfer said. “She always did everything so easily. We thought she was good. In a maiden special weight in California, you don’t expect to win first time out, and she did.”

There was no suspense to the outcome that day, or in her four subsequent races, all stakes wins – the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante, Grade 1 Chandelier Stakes, BC Juvenile Fillies, and Grade 2 Las Virgenes Stakes on Feb. 6. They have played out similarly. Songbird races on or near the lead and pulls away in the final furlong to win comfortably. The smallest margin of victory was 4 1/2 lengths over Land Over Sea in the Chandelier Stakes.

Songbird’s daily exercise, workouts, and races come easily.

“I guess she has all the parts that allow her to get over the track easily,” Hollendorfer said. “Some horses do things easily, and she’s one of them.”

Aside from Songbird’s wins, there is the intangible benefit of having a champion filly in the stable this year.

Songbird returned during a terrible week for Hollendorfer last fall. Shared Belief, the champion 2-year-old male of 2013, died after an attack of colic in early December. Shared Belief won the 2015 Santa Anita Handicap and was expected to compete at the highest level among older horses this year.

“Nothing can happen that will make you feel better after Shared Belief,” Hollendorfer said. “When you’re in the horse business, or any other business, you have to be strong and try to go on. You have to be flexible and resilient.”

Songbird is the leading contender for the $1 million Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 6. The plan is to use the Santa Ysabel as a prep for the $400,000 Santa Anita Oaks on April 9, leading to Kentucky.

It is easy to see her going to Churchill Downs unbeaten. How far Songbird can progress this year is a subject Hollendorfer is reluctant to broach.

“I can’t worry about that,” he said. “I’ve got to get ready for Saturday.”

Mike Smith has ridden Songbird in all of her starts. He has been amazed at the ease of her victories but said Songbird has an ornery streak. Smith even sensed a bit of an attitude from the filly when he began to guide Songbird off the track and toward Hollendorfer’s stable after a half-mile breeze Sunday.

“She wants to stay on the track,” he said. “She’d stand there all morning if you’d let her. She likes her job. She gets mad when you make her go off.”

The racetrack, it seems, is truly home for Songbird.