By Jennifer Wirth, The Saturday Post
Luck is an interesting thing.
You find it when you least expect it.
And, in some moments, luck finds you.
In the case of Blind Luck, it arrives when you’re not looking.
In April of 2007, a mare named Lucky One gave birth to a foal in Kentucky at Fairlawn Farm.
The foal’s father, Pollard’s Vision, was blind in one eye and had been named for sharing the same trait with Red Pollard, Seabiscuit’s Jockey.
After multiple graded-stakes victories during his career, Pollard’s Vision was eventually retired after his final race at Saratoga in August of 2005.
It was the same track where he had begun his career with a 12½ length maiden victory.
A few years after Pollard’s Vision ran his last race at Saratoga, the daughter of the half-blind horse and the one “lucky” mare was entering the sales ring.
She was initially sold as a yearling for $11,000 at the 2008 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July sale.
Roughly a year later, the two-year-old filly was back in the ring at auction.
In April of 2009, she was entered in the Ocala Breeder’s April sale. After failing to garner serious attention from bidders, the filly was bought back for $10,000.
Roughly two months later, the filly set foot on the track for a $40,000 maiden claiming race at Calder Race Course.
It was the first time her name appeared in a program.
“Blind Luck.”
As she entered the gates, the $10,000 filly faced odds of 5 to 1 from the betting public.
But, luck doesn’t mind odds.
The sheer nature of luck is beating them.
As Blind Luck claimed a 13¼ length maiden victory, she began to mirror Pollard’s Vision in finding the Lucky One.
Blind Luck cleared her maiden race in the same runaway fashion as her father had done in his 12½ length maiden race at Saratoga.
Yet, few saw Blind Luck when she appeared in the gates – she didn’t get claimed in her debut.
The nature of luck can elude the eyes.
Yet, luck didn’t elude Pollard’s Vision.
And, after the race, Blind Luck didn’t escape the vision of Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer.
After she broke her maiden by 13¼ lengths, Hollendorfer privately purchased Blind Luck.
He saw a stakes-bound horse.
And, Blind Luck agreed.
In her next eight starts, Blind Luck captured five victories – four of which were in Grade 1 races.
In April of 2010, Blind Luck was shipped from California to Kentucky to challenge a field of rivals in the Kentucky Oaks.
As the gates opened, Blind Luck hung at the back of the pack as the rest of the contenders bulleted around the oval.
It appeared her luck had run out.
Then, Blind Luck took hold in the race.
As the field turned for the wire, Blind Luck picked off her rivals in a heart-stopping victory.
She won by a nose.
As Blind Luck was draped in a Garland of Lilies, she proved Pollard’s Vision correct.
Blind Luck had just claimed her fifth Grade 1 victory.
And, it appears her luck isn’t running out.
In her last race, Blind Luck nipped her rivals at the wire in the Delaware Oaks to claim her eighth victory in twelve career starts.
As Blind Luck heads toward Saratoga for the Alabama Stakes, she will race around the same circle where Pollard’s Vision started and finished his career.
And, as she stamps out her own hoof print on the Saratoga track, she is a perfect vision of luck.
Blind Luck.
