#26001 Hollywood State (State Dinner X Blade)

Humble beginning for a most beautiful and courageous filly. Computer bred and owned she ran six consecutive weeks in a row before I finally put in a 'mercy claim'. My objective was simply to give her a rest; race her once or twice, and eventually let her loose back in the claiming ranks.

She was Ready To Go when she arrived in my stable but I put her on the shelf for seven weeks to let her get some form back.

I put her in an allowance and she ran like the wind. Sat just off the front two and kicked hard coming home. A fluke, I thought, and tried her again 3 weeks later. At Ready To Go (no trainer settings in those days) she repeated the performance.

How good was she? I honestly do not know as I know I would do many things different with her if I claimed her today. I think she was far better then her record. She faced the best - right to the very end. She spent the better part of a year in the Top 20 of the 3 year old filly classification - and was routinely beaten by the best of that group, Flat World. Bur she always raced hard, never quit, and left it all on the track. She was simply beaten. She struggled when she aged to four. And it became almost unbearable to watch her being blown off the track. So she let me know that it was time to move on.

If her baby has his mama's heart he is going to be a fearsome competitor next year.