It Could Be a Golden Run for Sahadi Barn

For the second consecutive year, a prominent 3-year-old has trainer Jenine Sahadi in the spotlight.

In 2000, The Deputy, an Irish-bred colt owned by Barry Irwin and Jeff Siegel’s Team Valor and Gary Barber, won the Santa Anita Derby, beating, among others, eventual Breeders’ Cup Mile champion War Chant and multiple-stakes winner Captain Steve.

This year, a filly has stepped to the head of the local class. Golden Ballet, owned by Team Valor and Bill Heiligbrodt, is a 3-year-old daughter of Moscow Ballet who has won four successive races since losing the first three of her career.

Successful in the Santa Ynez Stakes on Jan. 20 and the Las Virgenes three weeks later, Golden Ballet is the 7-5 morning-line favorite to keep her winning streak alive in the $300,000 Santa Anita Oaks this afternoon.

Despite last year’s run by The Deputy and Breeders’ Cup Sprint wins by Lit De Justice at Woodbine in 1996 and Elmhurst the following year at Hollywood Park, things have not changed much for Sahadi.

She said Thursday morning she has 22 horses in her stable and there has been no expansion of her client list. Besides Team Valor, Barber and Heiligbrodt, her other main owners are Jeff Kallenberg and her brother Steve.

“If it didn’t happen after winning two Breeders’ Cup races, I knew fairly early on [getting more owners] wasn’t going to happen,” she said. “But I’m very grateful for what I have.

“I am really happy with the people I am training for. They allow me to be myself. I can be honest and cut right to the chase and that is important to me.

“It’s not good being in a relationship where you dread picking up the phone and calling somebody. I’m really happy right now. Sure, I would like more horses and a bunch of Grade I runners, but I don’t and I am happy with what I do have.

“There haven’t been any new clients and I really don’t expect there to be any. There are a lot of people I’m very friendly with, but there are those who are taken aback by me, I guess. I don’t know. Maybe I scare them a little bit. I tell the truth and call it like I see it.

“The people I’m training for now have kept me in the business and allowed me to be myself, which is really important, and they appreciate the way I am. There isn’t anybody in the barn that doesn’t know exactly what is up with their horses.”

Purchased last spring, after she had earned her first win in the Nursery Stakes at Hollywood Park, Golden Ballet has yet to lose for her current owners.

An injury forced her to the sidelines after an easy win in the Cinderella at Hollywood Park last June, but Golden Ballet has done nothing wrong since she returned.

After winning the Santa Ynez by seven lengths, she tried two turns for the first time in the one-mile Las Virgenes and passed the test, scoring her first Grade I victory. She led throughout in beating Two Item Limit by 2 1/2 lengths as the 2-5 favorite.

Things could get a little trickier in the Oaks, which is a sixteenth of a mile longer than the Las Virgenes. Among the eight others entered Thursday morning was Pristine, a speedy Gone West filly trained by Wayne Lukas.

In her first start of the year on Feb. 28, Pristine, a $1.1-million yearling owned by Bob and Beverly Lewis, won by seven lengths and she probably will have the early lead in the Oaks.

If outrun by Pristine, it will be interesting to see how Golden Ballet reacts.

“She’s doing great, really well,” Sahadi said. “She has definitely done everything I’ve asked of her. She’s carrying great weight, she looks good and she’s happy. We’ve done everything we can up to this point, weather permitting.

“We won’t run her on a sealed track [one that has been rolled hard to resist rain] or a track anywhere near sealed. Barry and I have talked about it and we agree we’re not going to take any chances with her. It’s too early in the year and she does not have anything to prove to us.

“She has passed horses in the morning and she trains that way. She’s not intimidated. Nothing really bothers her. I’m not going to say I’m positive, 100% certain that she’s going to do it today [if she is not in front]. All I know is that the race is totally different this time, but there’s nothing I can do about it, so I’m not going to worry about it.

“[Jockey] Chris [McCarron] knows her really well and we’ll just watch and see what happens when the doors open. What she has done already has been pretty remarkable.”

Should Golden Ballet win again, there will be speculation on what will be next for the California-bred. Could she, perhaps, take on the boys in the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on April 7?

“We’ll watch the race, evaluate it and then talk about what we want to do,” said Irwin, the president of Team Valor.

If not the Santa Anita Derby, the Kentucky Oaks on May 4 at Churchill Downs, the day before the Kentucky Derby, could be in Golden Ballet’s future.

Sahadi got her first taste of the Kentucky Derby last year, and although The Deputy did not fare well in the race, she enjoyed the experience.

“It was great,” she said. “It was a little more overwhelming than I expected. I went to a Thrifty’s and a guy behind the counter asked, ‘Hey, how’s your horse doing?’ Everywhere you went there, people knew racing, knew the players and knew everything that was going on.

“It would be a pretty big deal to go back there for the Oaks. It would be exciting, fun, nerve-racking and everything else.”

Notes

Besides Golden Ballet, Two Item Limit and Pristine, the Santa Anita Oaks field, from the rail out, includes Aswhatilldois, Collect Call, Affluent, Flute, Ella’s Pal and Glaringray.

Spain, the winner of the La Brea and La Canada Stakes already at the meet, is the 2-1 favorite in the $300,000 Santa Margarita Invitational Handicap today at Santa Anita. The rest of the field for the Grade I: Brianda, Let’s Cruise, Critikola, Lazy Slusan, Gourmet Girl, Feverish and Lovellon.

The entry of Monarchos and Invisible Ink could be a lukewarm favorite in the $1-million Florida Derby today at Gulfstream Park. Other prime contenders in the 1 1/8-mile race are Outofthebox, Fountain Of Youth winner Songandaprayer and City Zip.