"Frustrated by what he perceives as the speed-biased nature of the track’s sand-and-clay surface, Hollendorfer said he may not start Blind Luck again at the Santa Anita meet after she was second in the Grade 2 El Encino Stakes on Sunday, her first start since a second-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic at Churchill Downs in November."

"Yet if the criteria for a Horse of the Year award was based solely on speed, then there would be a much different path to racing’s ultimate prize -- one that mirrors last year’s scenario. In choosing the fastest horse of 2010, Len Friedman, a partner with Ragozin Thoroughbred Data, tossed out both Zenyatta and Blame and crowned the three-year-old filly Blind Luck as the “Sheets” Horse of the Year."

"The Breeders' Cup Distaff will be Blind Luck's ninth start in 2010 and she's run at seven different racetracks. She's won on dirt, on synthetic tracks, on fast surfaces, on sloppy surfaces. She's gone from California to Arkansas to Kentucky. She went back to California, then to Delaware and to Saratoga, then on to Philly Park. She's given away weight. She's taken on all comers. An $11,000 yearling purchase by Pollard's Vision, she has won five of eight starts and has earned $1,319,662 this year." It's reminiscent of Rachel Alexandra's 2009 campaign. Except for not racing in open company.

"None of this is meant to conclude that Blind Luck would win the Kentucky Derby. In what is always a very tough, very demanding race, she well could get trounced. Yet, doesn't she deserve a chance to show what she can do? Whether it's Blind Luck or any other star female, fillies ought to run against colts more often than they do."