Unique Bella retirement leaves division in search of a leader

DEL MAR, Calif. - The surprise retirement on Saturday of the champion Unique Bella due to injury has left California’s older female division without a leader with slightly more than 10 weeks before the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Churchill Downs.

Unique Bella was scheduled to start in the Grade 1 Zenyatta Stakes at Santa Anita on Sept. 30 as a heavy favorite in the final local prep race for the BC Distaff on Nov. 3.

Instead, the $300,000 Zenyatta Stakes could be an open race, depending on how trainer Bob Baffert manages Abel Tasman, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2017. Abel Tasman is based at Del Mar, but has raced in Kentucky and New York this year. She is scheduled to start in Saturday’s Grade 1 Personal Ensign Stakes at Saratoga.

Abel Tasman would be a strong favorite, if she runs in the Zenyatta, which offers a fees-paid berth to the BC Distaff.

Without Abel Tasman, La Force will have a greater role. Trained by Paddy Gallagher, La Force was second to Unique Bella in her last two starts - the Grade 1 Beholder Mile by 2 1/4 lengths at Santa Anita on June 2 and by a half-length in the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar on July 29.

Gallagher said Sunday a two-month break between starts will be a boost for La Force.

“She had a couple of good efforts and I think a little bit of time will help,” he said.

Gallagher described Unique Bella as “literally unbeatable.”

Other fillies and mares, such as Anonymity, Bernina Star, Mopotism, Shenandoah Queen, and Yuvetsi, may have a greater role in the Zenyatta. None has won a Grade 1 race this year.

“It’s not the greatest division in the world without (Unique Bella) and with Abel Tasman racing out of town,” said John Sadler, who trains Shenandoah Queen and Yuvetsi.

Sadler plans to start Shenandoah Queen in Friday’s Tranquility Lake Stakes at Del Mar as a prep for the Zenyatta. Yuvetsi, who won the Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Handicap at 6 1/2 furlongs on Aug. 12, will start in the Zenyatta or the LA Woman Stakes for female sprinters at Santa Anita on Oct. 7, he said.

The absence of Unique Bella may lead to a start in the Zenyatta for Mopotism, who won the Grade 2 La Canada Stakes at Santa Anita in January, but has lost five subsequent starts in graded stakes. Trained by Doug O’Neill for Paul and Zillah Reddam, Mopotism was sixth in the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap on July 14.

“We talked about training up to the Breeders’ Cup Distaff,” O’Neill said. “With Unique Bella being out that could change things. I’ll breeze her in a week or 10 days and that will tell us.”

Anonymity, second at 2-5 in the Rancho Bernardo, is likely to start in the Zenyatta in her first race around two turns.

“We plan to try her going long,” trainer Richard Mandella said Sunday.

Paradise Woods, third in the 2017 BC Distaff, is not a contender for the BC Distaff this year. She has been turned out for a late summer rest, Mandella said.

Unique Bella, the champion female sprinter of 2017 and one of the most popular horses in training, was retired Saturday after emerging from a workout at Del Mar with a sesamoid injury. The injury will not require surgery, but it will end her career.

Unique Bella won 9 of 12 starts and earned $1,272,400. An eight-time stakes winner for Don Alberto Stable, Unique Bella will be bred next year.

“Unique Bella has a very special place in our hearts and has brought so much joy to myself, my mother Liliana and the whole Don Alberto family,” farm owner Carlos Heller said in a statement.

“She blessed us with our first Grade 1 win in the U.S. and we will be forever grateful for her and her time on the track. We are disappointed to announce her retirement; however, her health and well-being come first for us.”