Blind Luck Retired; Booked to Bernardini

By Blood-Horse Staff

Dr. Mark Dedomenico’s Blind Luck, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2010, has been officially retired from racing and booked to Darley stallion Bernardini .

Blind Luck arrived Jan. 24 at John Sikura’s Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms near Lexington, Ky.

A champion for Dedomenico, John Carver, Peter Abruzzo, and trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, Blind Luck was a graded stakes winner all three years she raced. At 2 she won the Hollywood Starlet (gr. I) and the Oak Leaf (gr. I). As a 3-year-old she captured the Betfair TVG Alabama Stakes (gr. I), the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I), the Las Virgenes Stakes (gr. I), and a pair of grade II events. Last year at 4 she took the Vanity Handicap (gr. I) and two grade II stakes, including a nose victory over 2011 Horse of the Year Havre de Grace in the 10-furlong Delaware Handicap.

Blind Luck, by Pollard's Vision , placed in two Breeders’ Cup events. She ran third in the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I) and second in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic (gr. I) her championship season. She missed the 2011 Ladies’ Classic after finishing seventh in the Lady’s Secret Stakes (gr. I) Nov. 1 in what was her last start.

Shortly after last year's Breeders’ Cup, Dedomenico bought out his partners' interest in Blind Luck at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale. He purchased her through agent Mike Puhich for $2.5 million from the Taylor Made Sales Agency consignment.

Blind Luck finished worse than third just once in her career. She was retired with a record of 12-7-2 from 22 starts and earnings of $3,279,520.

Bred in Kentucky by Fairlawn Farm, Blind Luck is the first foal out of the winning Best of Luck mare Lucky One, who is a half sister to graded stakes winner Ethan Man and the dam of a Brazilian group winner.

Bernardini, whose 2012 fee at Darley near Lexington is $150,000, was the leading second-crop sire of 2011.

Once in foal, she will be sent to Dedomenico's Pegasus Training and Rehabilitation Center near Redmond, Wash.

Thoroughbred racing

Flat racing is the most common form of Thoroughbred racing. The track is typically oval in shape and the race is based on speed and stamina. Within the general category of Thoroughbred flat racing, there exist two separate types of races. These include conditions races and handicap races. Condition races are the most prestigious and offer the biggest purses. Handicap races assign each horse a different amount of weight to carry based on their ability.[11] Beside the weight they carry, the horse is also influenced by its closeness to the inside barrier, the track surface, its gender, the jockey, and the trainer. A typical Thoroughbred race is run on dirt, synthetic or turf surfaces. Viscoride and Polytrack are synthetic substitutes. Thoroughbred races vary in distance, but are usually somewhere between five and twelve furlongs. A furlong is a distance measurement equal to one eighth of a mile, 220 yards[12] or 201.168 metres.

Thoroughbred racing in the United States

In 1665, the first racetrack was constructed on Long Island. It is the oldest thoroughbred race in North America. The American Stud Book was started in 1868, prompting the beginning of organized horse racing in the United States. There were 314 tracks operating in the United States by 1890; and in 1894, the American Jockey Club was formed.[15] The anti-gambling sentiment prevalent in the early 20th century led almost all states to ban bookmaking. Bookmaking is the process of taking bets, calculating odds, and paying out winnings. This nearly eliminated horse racing altogether. When parimutuel betting was introduced in 1908, the racing industry turned around.[16] Horse racing flourished until World War II. The sport did not regain popularity in the United States until horses began to win the Triple Crown. The Triple Crown is a series of three races, consisting of the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes.[