Bell's the One Shows Her Mettle in TCA Stakes

Veteran jockey Corey Lanerie knows good horses, having won a lot of stakes races, and following Bell's the One's most recent win, her 10th in a 21-race career, he said that she might be the best horse he's ever ridden. 

Lanerie and the 5-year-old mare have teamed up for seven wins dating back to March 2019, and standing in the winner's circle after winning the $250,000 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes (G2) at Keeneland Oct. 9, the jockey said, "She gives everything she's got every time. She's got the fastest turn of foot of any horse I've ridden. At the five-sixteenths pole, if she gives me her kick, I know I'm going to catch them."

Both Lanerie and Bell's the One had to work for this one. Lagging five lengths behind the leader, last year's winner Inthemidstofbiz , up the backstretch of the six-furlong race over Keeneland's fast track, the bay mare did indeed produce that kick, racing wide to get to the front coming into the stretch. But despite an opening split of :21.57, the early vanguard didn't yield, and in addition, Bell's the One was challenged late by Club Car , holding that one off by a diminishing neck. Club Car got the best of third-placed Estilo Talentoso  by a head. 

The final time was 1:08.63. Bell's the One returned $4.20 on a $2 win ticket as the favorite.

Bell's the One was bred in Kentucky by Bret Jones and purchased by Lothenbach Stables for $155,000 from Brereton C. Jones' consignment in 2017 at The July Sale, Fasig-Tipton's select yearling sale in Lexington. By Majesticperfection , she is out of the Street Cry  mare Street Mate , the dam of four winners from as many starters, including stakes-placed Running Mate  (Creative Cause  ). Street Mate delivered a Collected   filly this year and was bred to Not This Time   for 2022.

Though the TCA is a "Win and You're In" for the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1), trainer Neil Pessin is by no means certain that he and his superstar runner will make the trip west.

"It will still depend on how she comes out of it," said the trainer, who had last won a graded stakes race in 2006 before Bell's the One prevailed in the 2019 Lexus Raven Run Stakes (G2) at Keeneland. "The plane reservations are still tough, the way they've got it—I know it's the best they (Breeders' Cup) can do—but we'll try to make a go of it if she comes out of it well."

The company that has previously shipped horses via plane, Tex Sutton, suspended operations in May when the lease on the plane it used expired. The company has not yet been able to access a new plane and get the required federal approval to resume operations. The Breeders' Cup announced that it will pay to charter FedEx planes to move horses to California for this year's event at Del Mar, using Tex Sutton's experienced employees to ease the difficulties of shipping horses without their regular grooms, something that was permitted on Tex Sutton flights but is not on FedEx plans.

Pessin told BloodHorse in August that the travel challenges are a significant factor in whether to run in the Breeders' Cup.

Bell's the One was third in last year's Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at Keeneland.

Despite a race record of 10-4-2, earnings of $1,336,825, and running as the odds-on favorite in her last three races, Bell's the One's achievements and talents continue to get overlooked, according to her trainer. 

"She never gets the respect she deserves," he said in a post-race interview. "Even in this race, people weren't even picking her on top, which made absolutely zero sense to me. I don't know what this mare has to do to earn respect, but she's definitely got mine."

A Breeders' Cup win would certainly earn the mare the respect that Pessin seeks for the mare, but even should he and Lothenbach Stables decide to pass on the race, Bell's the One has nothing to prove, as far as her trainer is concerned.

"She's one of the best mares, if not the best horse, I've ever had," he said.

Video: Thoroughbred Club of America S. (G2)