Better Lucky Targets Ballerina

Trainer Tom Albertrani confirmed that Godolphin Racing's Better Lucky will now target the Grade 1, $500,000 Ballerina for filly and mare sprinters on August 23 after beating a small but select field in the $100,000 Shine Again on Monday.

The Shine Again was the first stakes win on the dirt for Better Lucky, who won the 2012 Grade 1 Matriarch and 2013 Grade 1 First Lady on the turf and was second in the 2014 Grade 1 Madison on a synthetic surface. She hadn't raced on the dirt since the start of her career when she won her debut and finished fifth in the 2012 Ruthless over the inner track at Aqueduct Racetrack. Her runner-up performance in the Madison was her lone previous start traveling seven furlongs.

In the Shine Again, Better Lucky rallied from last of four to beat Grace Hall by a head, who finished a half-length in front of My Miss Aurelia.

"I had high expectations [going into the Shine Again]," said Albertrani. "I didn't feel it was a matter of surface change. I felt as if was a matter of what her best distance is. It worked out in our favor with a fast early pace."

Albertrani added that Romansh, who won the Grade 3 Excelsior in March at Aqueduct and was third two starts back in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap in June at Belmont, remains on course for the Grade 1 Whitney on August 2 and is scheduled to have a workout on Saturday or Sunday. Romansh, also owned by Godolphin, was fifth in the Grade 2 Suburban Handicap on July 5 in his most recent start.