As one of the elite races on the calendar for fillies and mares, the
Apple Blossom tends to draw its share of champions. That should again be
the case this year as trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said Friday that Blind
Luck will likely make her next start in the Grade 1, $500,000 race at
Oaklawn.
“I’m planning on it,” Hollendorfer said of next Friday’s Apple Blossom. “But I’m waiting on the weights.”
The Apple Blossom has reverted back to handicap status after being
run as a stakes last year in an attempt to bring Zenyatta and Rachel
Alexandra together in a matchup that ultimately did not materialize. The
race’s distance has also been returned to its traditional mile and a
sixteenth, after being run over a mile and an eighth last year when won
by champion Zenyatta.
Hollendorfer said Garrett Gomez would ride Blind Luck, the champion
3-year-old filly of 2010, if she goes in the Apple Blossom. The jockey
was aboard her last out in the Grade 3, $150,000 Azeri at Oaklawn, when
Blind Luck finished second to Havre de Grace, who is also pointing for
the Apple Blossom.
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