Blind Luck the Praiseworthy

She came from a twinkle in her father’s one good eye. Sired by Pollard's Vision, and out of the Best of Luck mare, Lucky One, she was a meager $11,000 yearling purchase. To add a little spice to the classic rags-to-riches story, she was then was bought back by her owners for $10,000 at a two-year-old in training sale the following Spring. The inexpensive chestnut filly would begin her racing career in a lowly maiden claiming race at Calder Race Course. From these most humble beginnings, a champion was born. By all rights, Blind Luck has no business being as good as she is. Blind Luck would win that 4 ½ furlong maiden claiming debut by 13 ¼ lengths and the rest, as they say, has been history. Purchased by trainer Jerry Hollendorfer after the impressive maiden win in Southern Florida, and taken to California, Blind Luck has never stopped flourishing in the 16 months since. She would win three more times as a juvenile, with a second, and a third, from five starts. She finished off her first season with a seven length thrashing of her competition in the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet. It was the kind of race, and the kind of juvenile season that demanded an Eclipse Award. I said as much at the conclusion of 2009. Unfortunately, she would be denied the award, but to most onlookers she entered 2010 as the best young filly in the nation. 2010 has only gotten better for Blind Luck. The upcoming Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic will be a showcase for her talent and an exclamation point on her remarkable season. Blind Luck's has run eight times in 2010 and at seven different racetracks. All of her starts this year have been in stakes of either the grade 1 or grade 2 variety. She's won on dirt in Arkansas, Kentucky, Delaware, and New York, as well as a grade 1 win on a synthetic track at Santa Anita. She‘s traveled the nation back and again. She has proven best at distances up to 10 furlongs and she has won on both fast and sloppy tracks. Blind Luck has already won America’s top race for sophomore fillies, the Kentucky Oaks, over the very track where the Breeders’ Cup is about to commence. She may be coming off a loss, but it was a performance that only furthers her stature. In the Cotillion, she conceded ten pounds to one of the top fillies in the nation in Havre de Grace. Closing like a freight train, Blind Luck got to the wire just a few strides too late. She may have been denied her 10th victory on that day, but the feeling here is that we will need not wait long for lucky number 10. Whether or not she will be the very best horse running over the two-day celebration that is the Breeders‘ Cup, is immaterial. In an age when far too many horsemen coddle their horses, with little or no travel, and only a handful of races in an entire year, Blind Luck is a shining example of what racing used to be. From those humble beginnings, a true champion was born.