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Unique Bella, top 3-year-old filly, wins in return at Santa Anita

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If any horse fits the profile of a Breeders’ Cup contender, it would have to be the tall, imposing 3-year-old filly Unique Bella, a daughter of the No. 1 stallion Tapit.

Possessing “freakish” morning workout times, Unique Bella made a successful return to the races on Sunday at Santa Anita, winning the $100,000 LA Woman Stakes by 3 ½ lengths over Princess Karen in 1:16.66 for 6 ½ furlongs. She won despite slipping a bit at the start.

“What I found interesting today was that she settled really nicely,” jockey Mike Smith said. “In the past, I don’t think she would have done that. She would have just run on by and opened up by five, six or seven and coasted on home. Today she rated nicely and I had horse left.”

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Unique Bella, trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, won for the fifth time in six starts. She was shut down last March after winning the Santa Ysabel Stakes because of sore shins. She had been recording quick workouts in the morning.

Now Hollendorfer will point her toward the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at seven furlongs on Nov. 4 at Del Mar.

“We’ve talked about that for a long time,” he said. “We thought if we could get her back to this race and get a good race in her that we could probably do that.”

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