Unique Bella vanquishes Abel Tasman in the Santa Ysabel
Abel Tasman tried her best, but she was simply no match for 3-year old filly superstar Unique Bella in the $100,000 Grade 3 Santa Ysabel Stakes at Santa Anita Park.
Off a beat slow, Unique Bella initially got stuck behind a wall of three rivals, but once she got her momentum going, there was no stopping her. Into the first turn, Unique Bella split horses, pushing Spooky Woods wide while coming up on the outside of Tap It All.
Coming out of the clubhouse turn, Unique Bella had the lead and had extended it to 2 ½ lengths. Tap It All was racing in second, just ahead of Spooky Woods. What What What was fourth followed by Abel Tasman and Mistressofthenight.
Cruising along on the lead, Unique Bella set splits of :23.35, :46.23, and 1:10.70. Approaching the far turn, Bella’s stablemate Spooky Woods took over second while Abel Tasman moved up into a joint third, still eight lengths behind Unique Bella.
At the top of the stretch, jockey Mike Smith still had not asked Unique Bella for her best yet, but Joe Talamo had already gone to a left-handed whip on Abel Tasman, who was in second and moving up strongly. With urging, Abel Tasman moved up to within a length of Unique Bella before Smith asked his filly for her run. With a few left-handed taps of the whip, Unique Bella immediately responded and repelled the threat of Abel Tasman.
After being livened up within the last sixteenth, Unique Bella posted a 2 ½ length victory over Abel Tasman. Unique Bella’s stablemate Spooky Woods was a distant third followed by a late closing Mistressofthenight. What What What was fifth, and Tap It All faded to sixth and last.
Noted and Quoted was an early morning scratch.
Winning jockey Mike Smith stated afterwards, “"It was pretty eventful. Sometimes you just stay out of the way of the good ones and they'll run for you. That's pretty much what I did today...I was blessed enough to be able to lead my way out."
Joe Talamo, who was aboard grade 1 winning runner-up Abel Tasman had this to say about his filly: "Turning for home I had a lot of horse under me. Hats off to the winner, what a special filly she is, because like I said I really had a lot of horse and we had a beautiful trip. The winner broke a little slow which I was happy to see. I was so proud of my filly. I think she's definitely going to move forward from here."
As the 1-9 favorite, Unique Bella paid $2.20, $2.10, and $2.10 for her facile win. Second choice Abel Tasman returned $2.40 and $2.10, and 25-1 shot Spooky Woods returned $2.80 for the show. The $1 exacta paid $1.70, the $1 trifecta returned $4.70, and the $1 superfecta was worth $17.70.
By Tapit and out of the Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Unrivaled Belle (Unbridled’s Song), Unique Bella was bred by Brushwood Stable. She was a $400,000 yearling purchase by current owner Don Alberto Stable. The talented gray filly is now 5: 4-1-0, with 3 graded stakes wins, for earnings of $342,400.
When asked what was next for Unique Bella, winning trainer Jerry Hollendorfer stated, “Yes, the Santa Anita Oaks is our next point race. It’s a perfect progression. We have a very talented filly and we’d like to look at the Kentucky Oaks. We like to take one step at a time. We’d like to go for the Santa Anita Oaks, and if we win or do well, then we’ll try to go to Kentucky.”
Even though she’s Triple Crown nominated, Unique Bella will more than likely make her first weekend in May start on Friday rather than Saturday. “I don’t have any thoughts about running her against the boys, but some other folks do I guess,” Hollendorfer said.
He then went on to say, “I hope they don’t have to match up this year (Songbird and Unique Bella.) I had enough match up with Beholder. That was a pretty good match-up.” Hollendorfer also trains dual Eclipse Champion Songbird.