Songbird Untouchable in Las Virgenes

Songbird's 3-year-old debut looked just like the rest of her starts.

Straight to the lead, run easy on the front, pull away from the field with ease, and win geared down under jockey Mike Smith.



Same old, same old—and impressive nonetheless.



Fox Hill Farms' undefeated Medaglia d'Oro   filly ambled home to win the $300,000 Las Virgenes Stakes (gr. II) Feb. 6 at Santa Anita Park, 6 1/2 lengths ahead of Land Over Sea, but Smith had such a tight hold on her, the margin might as well have been 26 1/2 lengths. She led by 10 lengths at the top of the stretch before the Hall of Famer took her back to a gallop.



Songbird cleared the field with ease from post 6, clicked off fractions of :23.63, :47.01, and 1:10.99 through six furlongs and finished the mile in 1:36.84. She's a Warrior came in third, 3 3/4 lengths beyond Land Over Sea.

"She has such a high cruising speed," Smith said. "She has gears. You always worry about horses that are brilliant at 2. Sometimes they don't mature or grow any more at 3. You're anxious to see what will happen... She seems to have improved. She seemed up to her game even more, especially mentally. She was very happy today and took it all in stride."

It was Songbird's fourth straight graded win (the other three were all grade I) and fifth win overall for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer.

"I was so pleased to see her way out there and cruising along pretty easy," Hollendorfer said. "At least now we got a race in her and we can try to make some more plans. We want to run here at Santa Anita. What we do in between now and the Santa Anita Oaks (gr. I), I don't know."

What clearly isn't the plan is any path to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), not at least according to Fox Hill owner Rick Porter.

"She just gives you goose bumps and you just wonder, 'How did I get this horse?'" Porter said. "I don't think I've ever had one that's so dominating and does things so easily. It would be nice to win the Kentucky Derby, but I'd like to do it with a nice colt... I don't like the point system.

"We'd have to run in the Santa Anita Derby (gr. I) with her. I think it'd be great for your ego, but the smart move is to stay on the path we're on to the (Kentucky) Oaks."

The victory pushed Songbird's career earnings to $1,682,000. She paid $2.10 across the board, while Land Over Sea brought $5.60 and $4, and She's a Warrior delivered $4.60 to show.

Merirosvo finished an even fourth, followed by Jade Princess and grade I winner Street Fancy, who was eased in the stretch.