Unique Bella punches ticket to Breeders' Cup Distaff

DEL MAR, Calif. – The expectations for Unique Bella are sky high, so even though she won the $300,000 Clement Hirsch at Del Mar on Sunday for her ninth victory in 12 starts, earning her third Grade 1 win plus a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Distaff through the “Win and You’re In” program, her half-length margin of victory over inferior competition made it not appear to be one of her best races yet.

But when a good horse has an off day and still wins, that means something. So Jerry Hollendorfer, the Hall of Fame trainer of Unique Bella, was satisfied to take the money and move onto the next race, believing Unique Bella can improve off what was her first race in nearly two months.

“She hadn’t run in a good while,” Hollendorfer said after the race, adding that Unique Bella would make her next start either in California or in New York, “but we’re not sure yet.”

In the Hirsch, Unique Bella ($2.20) was the 1-10 favorite for the fourth time in her career, and an odds-on favorite for the ninth time, so victory was expected. She went right to the front and set solid fractions of 23.25 seconds for the quarter and 46.80 seconds for the half while shadowed by Yuvetsi, then put that rival away entering the lane and opened up a large lead.

But Unique Bella finished off her final five-sixteenths in 32.84 seconds, and La Force gave her a scare.

“I thought I was going to get her,” said Drayden Van Dyke, who rode La Force. “But she dug back in.”

Indeed, Unique Bella never La Force by, not coming to the wire, not on the gallop out, and jockey Mike Smith never touched her with the whip. She won by a half-length, which was enough, for now. Smith said Unique Bella was compromised by losing a shoe at the start of the race.

Show bettors were happy. They sent it in on Unique Bella to such an extent that there was a minus pool of $143,684, a record at Del Mar.

La Force ran the race of her life and finished 9 1/4 lengths in front of Bernina Star. Yuvetsi and Shenandoah Queen completed the order of finish. Turkish Tabby was scratched.

Unique Bella completed 1 1/16 miles on the fast main track in 1:44.40.

Unique Bella, by Tapit, is 3 for 4 this year, her earlier victories coming in the Santa Maria and Grade 1 Beholder Mile.

Hollendorfer said Unique Bella could run at Santa Anita next in the Zenyatta at the end of September, or go to Saratoga for the Personal Ensign on Aug. 25. Although she was last year’s champion female sprinter, Unique Bella has raced exclusively around two turns this calendar year and has been targeted to the Distaff as her Breeders’ Cup goal.

Unique Bella earned $180,000 on Sunday and now has career earnings of $1,272,400. She is owned by Don Alberto Stable.