Golden Ballet, who is owned by Team Valor and William Heiligbrodt and trained by Jenine Sahadi, has won five straight stakes at five different distances, from 4 1/2 furlongs to 1 1/l6 miles. In the Santa Anita Oaks, she came again after being headed to win by a length in a sharp 1:41 4/5.
Golden Ballet, who extended her winning streak to five in last Saturday's Santa Anita Oaks, will continue to compete against fillies, Team Valor president Barry Irwin said Wednesday.Irwin, who last month mentioned the Santa Anita Derby as a possible target for the daughter of Moscow Ballet, said the options now are either the Ashland Stakes at Keeneland, followed by the Kentucky Oaks, or waiting until the Acorn Stakes, then the Mother Goose at Belmont."We're going to evaluate her over the next two weeks, after which we'll make a decision where we'll go," Irwin said. "The weather has compromised her training this winter, and we just don't want to see her have another hard race so quickly. She's the only filly other than Serena's Song to have won (the Santa Ynez, Las Virgenes, and Santa Anita Oaks), and her Ragozin numbers are better than any California-based 3-year-old filly at this stage of their career in the last 10 years. Because she's run so fast, we want to be careful not to overtax her this early in the year."
