Focus at Santa Anita is on Kentucky Oaks prospect Songbird

Focus at Santa Anita is on Kentucky Oaks prospect Songbird

There are three million-dollar Kentucky Derby prep races Saturday — the Santa Anita Derby, the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct and the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland — but the day’s star 3-year-old isn’t running in any of them.

Trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, Songbird has won all six of her starts in such front-running domination under jockey Mike Smith that her smallest margin of victory is 3¾ lengths.

[...] it isn’t just races that Songbird makes look easy; her timed workouts are so effortless that five of her past seven have been designated “breezing” instead of “handily” by Santa Anita clockers.

Rain is in the forecast for Saturday, and Songbird never has raced on a wet track, although her breeding (her sire is Medaglia d’Oro) suggests she’ll handle it.

“We think we have the best filly, but you have to prove yourself at every step you take,” Hollendorfer said.