Songbird returns from break, won't run in Derby

Songbird, the undefeated winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Keeneland on Oct. 31, returned to trainer Jerry Hollendorfer’s stable at Santa Anita on Thursday after a month-long break at a Kentucky farm.

On Friday, Hollendorfer said Songbird will be pointed to stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Santa Anita winter-spring meet, and that he is not planning to start her against males.

“We’re not going to run in the Kentucky Derby,” he said.

Hollendorfer said the $300,000 Las Virgenes Stakes at a mile Feb. 6 and the $400,000 Santa Anita Oaks at 1 1/16 miles April 9 are the primary goals for the winter and early spring. Songbird was given some exercise in Kentucky and will soon begin training in earnest, said Hollendorfer.

“She was on a water treadmill and jogged a couple of weeks,” he said. “We’ll train her a little bit, but she won’t breeze for a while.”

Owned by Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farm, Songbird is unbeaten in four starts and has earned $1,502,000. She has won three consecutive Grade 1 stakes by a combined 15 1/2 lengths – the Del Mar Debutante in September, the Chandelier Stakes at Santa Anita in September, and the BC Juvenile Fillies.

Hollendorfer has a strong group of 2-year-old fillies and has two probable starters for the $300,000 Starlet Stakes at Los Alamitos on Dec. 12 – Surfside Tiara and Stays in Vegas.

Stays in Vegas has won 4 of 5 starts, all in stakes. Her only loss was a fifth-place finish in the Del Mar Debutante. Stays in Vegas has won her last two starts, both at a mile on turf, including the Pike Place Dancer at Golden Gate Fields on Nov. 1.

“We know she’s good on turf, and we want to give her a chance to go back to the dirt,” said Hollendorfer. “She’s a very good filly.”

The Grade 1 Starlet Stakes is run at 1 1/16 miles. Other candidates include Coppa, Pacific Heat, Street Fancy, Treasuring, and possibly Pretty N Cool. Trainer Bob Baffert said Pretty N Cool will work this weekend before a decision is made on her participation.

Pretty N Cool won the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes at Del Mar in August and the Grade 2 Matron Stakes at Belmont Park in October. She was second in the Del Mar Debutante and last of five Nov. 15 in the Desi Arnaz Stakes at Del Mar.