Unique Bella gets back to work at Del Mar, Songbird breezes for Personal Ensign

DEL MAR, Calif. – Unique Bella, considered the leading 3-year-old filly in the country last winter, worked three furlongs in 36.40 seconds at Del Mar on Sunday for an expected return to racing this fall.

Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said the Grade 3 L.A. Woman Stakes for fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita on Oct. 8 is a target for Unique Bella, who won three consecutive stakes at Santa Anita from early January to early March before being rested because of a sore shin.

“She wants to do more,” trainer Hollendorfer said. “It’s hard to plan right now. She has to come back and do things in a timely manner.”

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Owned by Don Alberto Stable, Unique Bella has won 4 of 5 starts and earned $342,400.

Songbird, the two-time champion, trained by Hollendorfer, breezed a half-mile in 47.20 seconds on Sunday in advance of a start in Saturday’s Grade 1 Personal Ensign Stakes for fillies and mare at Saratoga.

“She did it quite nicely and quite easily,” Hollendorfer said.