Songbird breezes easy half-mile in 46.40 seconds

ARCADIA, Calif. – Songbird picked up where she left off. The undefeated filly worked an effortless half-mile Sunday at Santa Anita in 46.40 seconds, breezing, her first drill since an illness interrupted her spring campaign.

The champion 2-year-old filly of 2015 and winner of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks her most recent start April 9, Songbird got sick after the Oaks and did not train for 17 days. She resumed light training May 1; the Sunday drill was her first work back.

Songbird worked at 6:45 a.m. under exercise rider Edgar Rodriguez, whose instructions from trainer Jerry Hollendorfer were to give the filly a “regular half-mile workout.”

Songbird broke off by herself at the half-mile pole, as Rodriguez sat motionless.

“He wasn’t asking her to do anything,” Hollendorfer said. “I don’t think he moved his hands. She does things easy, and that was easy.

“She came back fine, didn’t look like she was blowing hard or anything,” Hollendorfer added. “My opinion is she hasn’t lost much [conditioning].”

The tentative comeback race for Songbird is the Grade 2 Summertime Oaks on June 18 at Santa Anita.

“We have not made any definite decisions yet, but I guess we would look at that race,” Hollendorfer said. “It depends on how she handles everything.”

So far, so good. Songbird, who has won seven races and earned $1,982,000 for Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farms, is likely to face a small field in the Summertime Oaks, a 1 1/16-mile race expected to attract two fast fillies stretching out from sharp sprint wins.

Trainer Phil D’Amato said Sunday he plans to run both Bellamentary and Coppa in the Summertime Oaks. Bellamentary has won 3 of 5, including the seven-furlong Angels Flight Stakes last out; Coppa, 2 for 2, won a first-level allowance sprint on Saturday with an 85 Beyer Speed Figure.