Unique Bella is Hollendorfer's latest 3-year-old star filly

ARCADIA, Calif. – This could be another memorable winter for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer and the leading 3-year-old filly in his stable.

A year after Songbird won three stakes at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting, the Hall of Fame trainer has another runner with immense promise. Unique Bella won her stakes debut in Sunday’s $200,000 Santa Ynez Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs by 7 1/2 lengths.

The margin could have been more if jockey Mike Smith had urged Unique Bella in the final sixteenth.

“She did it so easy,” Hollendorfer said Sunday near the winner’s circle. “It’s hard to believe she could be that good. It looks like she could be a two-turn filly.”

The Santa Ynez Stakes is the longest race in Unique Bella’s three-race career. She was second in a maiden race last June and did not race again until she won a maiden race at 6 1/2 furlongs by 10 1/4 lengths at Del Mar in November.

Hollendorfer held Unique Bella out of the $300,000 Starlet Stakes at Los Alamitos on Dec. 10 to focus on the Santa Ynez Stakes, a plan enacted days after the maiden-race win.

“We passed on the Grade 1 at Los Al because it was a little too soon,” Hollendorfer said.

Hollendorfer said Sunday he will strongly consider the $200,000 Las Virgenes Stakes at a mile Feb. 5 for Unique Bella. The early-spring goal is the $400,000 Santa Anita Oaks on April 8, leading to the $1 million Kentucky Oaks on May 5.

“We’d like to stay in California, and we’d like to end up in Kentucky,” he said.

Unique Bella has two main rivals in her upcoming races who are accomplished in two-turn stakes. Champagne Room won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita on Nov. 5 and is a candidate for the Las Virgenes Stakes. Abel Tasman, the winner of the Starlet Stakes, is likely to run in the $100,000 Santa Ysabel Stakes at 1 1/16 miles March 4 as a prep for the Santa Anita Oaks.

The Southern California-based 3-year-old filly division has depth but has a nearly impossible act to follow. Songbird was unbeaten in four races as a 2-year-old in 2015 and was named division champion. She won her first seven starts in 2016 before a nose loss to the three-time champion Beholder in an epic running of the BC Distaff at Santa Anita on Nov. 4. Beholder is virtually assured of the title of 2016 champion older female.

Songbird is a finalist for the Horse of the Year title and a cinch for the Eclipse Award as outstanding 3-year-old filly. She is scheduled to return to Hollendorfer’s California stable later this month after an early-winter break.