Barbara D. Livingston
Dance to Bristol (right), with Xavier Perez in the saddle, holds off Book Review to win the Ballerina.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Dance to Bristol had taken the lead straightening for home in Friday’s $500,000 Ballerina Handicap at Saratoga, but the presence of the Grade 1 winner Book Review loomed large to her outside.
Inside, trainer Ollie Figgins III thought to himself, “We’re going to see what kind of heart my horse had.”
Dance to Bristol had enough heart to hold off Book Review by a head and win her first Grade 1 race and earn an automatic, fees-paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita on Nov. 1.