Songbird is improving on perfection at Saratoga as she garnered the $500,000 Coaching Club American Oaks on Sunday and she just exuded class in the process.
The CCA Oaks was inaugurated in 1917 and has been won by some legends of the game. Wistful won the first running, Top Flight was victorious in 1932, the speedy Marshua won this race in 1965, the late great Ruffian scored in the CCA Oaks in 1975 and, last year, Curalina was winning this fixture for trainer Todd Pletcher.
Before we get into the tour de force she showed last Sunday, running her record to 9 for 9, it would only be fair to chronicle her entire career and to examine how she go to this point.
This daughter of Medaglia d’Oro, who was a multiple Grade 1 winner and earned of over $5.7 million, started her career just over a year ago at Del Mar when she was 2-1 on the tote board and she took her foes all the way earning a decent 84 Beyer Speed Figure.
Her next 3 races were in Grade 1 company and she won them all, including the 2015 closer on Halloween in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies when she recorded a then best 99 Beyer.
Rested until February of this year, she returned vs. 5 rivals in the Grade 2 Las Virgenes Stakes and she cruised to victory by over 6 lengths. That set her up for a facile win in the Santa Ysabel Stakes when she made every pole a winning one.
Again only 5 opponents showed up for the Santa Anita Oaks, and Songbird proved she could handle the off-going when she opened up 6 lengths at the top of the lane in the slop and won by nearly 4 lengths.
Freshened until last month, she failed to make the lead for the first time in her career but quickly adapted, took controlled with a furlong to go, and then just kept on going.
Her race on Sunday was arguably her best to date. She was facing a very sharp Carina Mia and that runner showed up and ran huge in defeat.
Songbird appeared to be struggling approaching the quarter pole but she showed her class and her heart re-rallying, putting away Carina Mia, and winning by 5 and a quarter lengths with a career best 101 Beyer.
They have called Saratoga the Graveyard of Champions and, for a brief moment, that moniker seemed to be raising its ugly head in the CCA Oaks, but Songbird, like a true drama queen, seemed to be toying with the onlookers as she put away her major rival and truly showed her class.
One of the things that makes the trip from the West Coast to Saratoga so taxing is the change in climate and the heavy humidity. The riders are not used to it and the horses are definitely not used to it.
Ridden by Hall of Fame rider Mike Smith, who has been contemplating retirement, and trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, who doesn’t really get the credit he deserves, Songbird had to be asked for her best but she rose to the occasion.
What Songbird did on Sunday happens when horses are champions. At the end of the race Songbird was pulling away and just waving goodbye to her valid rival. And one thing to remember is that if a true champion is tested, it tends to raise the bar for that champion and allows them to feel even more confident.
This was really the first time Songbird was tested and the first time she had to be asked for her best. And if this racer moves her up, there is absolutely no telling what the ceiling could be for this youngster.
Songbird has now who her 9 starts by a combined 47 and three quarter lengths. The next logical race for Songbird is the Grade 1 $600,000 August 20 Alabama at Saratoga.
And in the back of everybody’s mind now is how good is this filly? Is she better than Nyquist, Exaggerator and Creator, the winners of this year’s Triple Crown races? Or could she possible be good enough to win the granddaddy of them all, the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Only time will tell.
Stay tuned.
