Hollendorfer filly Brill 'reminds you of Songbird'; stakes next

Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer’s three Del Mar opening-day wins came with Eighty Three ($10.60), Shivermetimbers ($4.40) and Brill ($3.40), the latter as the 7-10 favorite making her racing debut in an event for 2-year-old fillies with a field rife with candidates for juvenile stakes in the near future.

A $1 million purchase at the Fasig-Tipton July sale last year, Brill came from off the pace to win by 1 ¼ lengths going away in a time of :57.86 for five furlongs, nearly two seconds faster than a similar event three races earlier.

Brill is short for brilliant.

“That’s what the owner said a long time ago before we knew she could run,” Hollendorfer assistant Dan Ward said Thursday morning. “The thing about her is you could see in the paddock that she’s very classy. Nothing bothers her and that’s a big plus…

“When the bigger races, the stakes, come up, usually you’ve got  a lot of horses that have gone wire-to-wire. You’re looking for one that can set off the pace and she’s already done that.

“She’s really classy and nice to work with. Kind of reminds you of Songbird. She was the same way.”

Brill may next be seen in the Grade 1, $300,000 Del Mar Debutante on September 1. The 2-year-old colt Instagrand, an impressive recent debut winner, is being aimed for the Grade 2, $200,000 Best Pal on August 11.