Whereas a fast return to racing is anticipated, Bella Ballerina will likely be scratched from the Kentucky Oaks (G1) due to an ill-timed leg damage.
Coach Brendan Walsh mentioned Bella Ballerina suffered a minor damage to her proper entrance leg that may preserve the daughter of Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Road Sense from working within the 1 1/8-mile Oaks Might 1 at Churchill Downs.
“She will not be out for very lengthy,” Walsh mentioned the morning of April 30 on the Churchill backstretch. “There was an space I used to be involved about that we received CT-scanned yesterday, and clearly, we do not wish to take a threat together with her.
“Typically it is the timing of these items.”
With the scratch, the third from the race, also-eligible Resist will race for proprietor/breeder Army Pike Racing Stables and coach Thomas Drury Jr. Drury confirmed that the daughter of Maclean’s Music , who most lately completed third within the Bourbonette Stakes March 21 at Turfway Park, will make her first dust begin in Friday’s 1 1/8-mile check for 3-year-old fillies.
With the scratch, proprietor/breeder Godolphin is not going to get the chance to construct on its latest Kentucky Oaks success. Sheikh Mohammed’s highly effective worldwide steady has received the Oaks with a homebred twice prior to now three years with Good Cheer final 12 months and Walsh-trained 2023 winner Fairly Mischievous , who’s a half sister to Bella Ballerina (out of Fairly Metropolis Dancer, by Tapit).
Bella Ballerina had been entered within the Kentucky Oaks off a runner-up end within the Truthful Grounds Oaks (G2) after a victory within the Rachel Alexandra Stakes (G2) at Truthful Grounds Race Course & Slots. Fairly Mischievous had recorded the identical leads to these two races going into the Kentucky Oaks.