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 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 Stakes 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.