Songbird flies in Summertime Oaks

Songbird continues her reign; remains undefeated following her victory in the Summertime Oaks held at Santa Anita Park on Saturday.

Out of the starting gate, Bellamentary took the lead with Songbird biding time by her flank in second position. Jockey Mike Smith used this opportunity to school Songbird to “sit and wait” off the lead; in her previous seven races the filly was ahead all the time but for about 30 seconds. Bellamentary is now among the few who have bragging rights about having their nose in front of Songbird’s during a race.

Finally, around the far turn, Smith eased his hold and Songbird scampered away, lengthening her lead to an easy six lengths by the finish line.

As she bounded down the stretch, track announcer Michael Wrona described her authority over the four other fillies: “This glamour filly is treating her rivals with absolute contempt.”

Mike Smith shared his thoughts about the race at a post-race press conference:

"I knew she was going to fire today. I just tried to stay out of her way. She has wings on her hooves, I swear. She just goes into stealth mode.It scares me to think of how good she is, I try not to think of it."

California-based Songbird has toyed with her contemporaries since she won her maiden special weight last July at Del Mar. Her second race was a grade one stakes, the Debutante; her third, the grade one Chandelier Stakes. With three wins on her race card, Songbird’s final run of her freshman year was in Lexington, Kentucky in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, which she dominated. To finish a perfect year, Songbird became a champion when she was elected the Eclipse Award 2-Year-Old Filly.

In 2016, while prepping to head east for the big 3-year-old filly races, Songbird developed a temperature and was withdrawn from the Kentucky Oaks. Since her recovery, she posted a couple of bullet works over six and seven furlongs in preparation for her return Saturday.

After the race, Songbird’s trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, who was celebrating his 70th birthday, gave his rundown of the trip and what might come next:

"It was beautiful the way she just settled in. I was very happy with the way she looked going down the backside. She was very comfortable, with her ears up, looking for something. The opportunity presented itself to be just a little off the pace and now we’ve shown everyone that we can do that.We thought she could do that before, but you never know until you try. We’ll try to keep her doing bigger and better things.I don’t know about the Haskell (Grade I, $1,000,000, 1 1/8 miles for 3 yo’s at Monmouth Park on July 31). Mr. Porter likes having input on these things so we’ll talk it over and make a plan, see what happens. I wouldn’t think we’d go to the Haskell but there are plenty of races, for her and we’ve talked about several of them.I think we’ll stick with the girls for now and see what happens. I’m thrilled, really."

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