Bella Ballerina Will Miss Kentucky Oaks

While a quick return to racing is expected, Bella Ballerina  will be scratched from the Kentucky Oaks (G1) because of an ill-timed leg injury.

Trainer Brendan Walsh said Bella Ballerina suffered a minor injury to her right front leg that will keep the daughter of 2007 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Street Sense   from running in the 1 1/8-mile Oaks May 1 at Churchill Downs.

"She won't be out for very long," Walsh said the morning of April 30 on the Churchill backstretch. "There was an area I was concerned about that we got CT-scanned yesterday and, obviously, we don't want to take a risk with her.

"Sometimes it's the timing of these things."

With the scratch, the third from the race, also-eligible Resist  will race for owner/breeder Military Pike Racing Stables and trainer Thomas Drury Jr. Drury confirmed that the daughter of Maclean's Music  , who most recently finished third in the Bourbonette Oaks March 21 at Turfway Park, will make her first dirt start in Friday's 1 1/8-mile test for 3-year-old fillies.

With the scratch, owner/breeder Godolphin will not get the opportunity to build on its recent Kentucky Oaks success. Sheikh Mohammed's powerful international stable has won the Oaks with a homebred twice in the past three years with Good Cheer  last year and Walsh-trained 2023 winner Pretty Mischievous , who is a half sister to Bella Ballerina (out of Pretty City Dancer , by Tapit  ).

Bella Ballerina had been entered in the Kentucky Oaks off a runner-up finish in the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) after a victory in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes (G2) at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots. Pretty Mischievous had recorded the same results in those two races going into the Kentucky Oaks.