No shoe, no problem for Unique Bella in Clement L. Hirsch win
And the 4-year-old champion filly lived up to those expectations despite losing a shoe the first time past the wire in the 1 1/16-mile event, though she did feel some competitive heat in the stretch from runner-up LaForce as a four-length lead dwindled to a half-length at the finish.
“She must have turned her (left front) foot a little and stepped on it (right front) coming out of the gate,” trainer Jerry Hollendorfer's assistant, Dan Ward, said Wednesday morning.
On Ward’s cell phone was one of the many images capturing the dangling or falling shoe that hit the internet.
“We were lucky that it came off clean the first time under the wire and she was able to get the job done without it," Ward said.
As a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff in November at Churchill Downs, it served its purpose. And when the details came out, it evidenced the worthiness of the daughter of Tapit, owned by the Don Alberto Stable, having her name on a list of Hirsch champions with Azeri, Zenyatta, Beholder and Stellar Wind.
Clearly, it wasn’t Unique Bella’s best race, and jockey Mike Smith said so.
"But it was good enough," the Hall of Fame rider added.
Unique Bella was comfortable in her outdoor pen Wednesday morning. She’s likely to do some light training at Del Mar over the remaining five weeks of the meeting, but her next start is expected to be at Santa Anita in the fall.