Undefeated Bella Ballerina works for Fair Grounds Oaks

Bella Ballerina remains right on target for the Fair Grounds Oaks on March 21, and her trainer, Brendan Walsh, will be in other 3-year-old stakes action that day, too.

Walsh said there’s a good chance that Black Hornet, a closing 1 3/4-length winner of the Black Gold on Feb. 28, will switch from turf to synthetic and make his next start in the Jeff Ruby Steaks on March 21 at Turfway Park. The Calumet Farm homebred lost his first four races before landing a Fair Grounds turf maiden race and winning the Black Gold with an 85 Beyer Speed Figure.

“I guarantee he’ll be a nice horse as the year goes along,” Walsh said.

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Bella Ballerina on Friday morning worked five furlongs in a sharp 1:00.60, her second breeze since a brave win Feb. 14 in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes. Godolphin’s half-sister to Kentucky Oaks winner Pretty Mischievous and a leading Oaks hopeful herself, Bella Ballerina has gone 3 for 3 to start her career and won the Golden Rod at Churchill Downs last fall.

Meanwhile, Expensive Queen, a sharp winner of the Albert Stall Memorial on the Feb. 14 Risen Star undercard, won’t return to Fair Grounds for the Tom Benson Memorial on March 21. Expensive Queen has rejoined Walsh’s string in Florida, which also includes the standout 4-year-old grass filly Lush Lips, and Walsh said both Lush Lips and Expensive Queen are likely runners in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley on April 11 at Keeneland.

◗ Walsh trains two of the seven entrants – Paris Lily and Triumphant Spirit – in Sunday’s featured seventh race, a second-level turf route allowance restricted to older fillies and mares and open to $50,000 claimers.

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