Indian Blessing - 2008 Racing Season

2008 Racing Season

Indian Blessing began her three-year-old campaign with a win in January's Grade II Santa Ynez Stakes at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California.

She kept her unbeaten record intact with a win in the February 9 running of the Silverbulletday Stakes at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana,

Indian Blessing lost the Fair Grounds Oaks on March 8 to rival Proud Spell.

On June 7, Zaftig (Horse) roared past Indian Blessing to pull away to a 4½-length win in the $250,000 Acorn Stakes

After a two-race losing streak, Indian Blessing proved versatile in her Prioress win. With no one in the Prioress field as fast as her early on, Indian Blessing won the race at the shortest distance since breaking her maiden.

On August 2, heavily favored Indian Blessing left five other 3-year-old fillies at the quarter pole and drew away to a 7-length victory in the $250,000 Test Stakes with Indian Blessing covering the 7 furlong distance of the Test Stakes in 1:22.70. On September 20, she took on older horses for the first time, winning the Gallant Bloom Handicap by 6¼ lengths.

She finished her three-year-old campaign by winning her fifth Grade I race, the 7 furlong La Brea Stakes, in 1:20:89 on December 27, 2008. The race was marred by the injury of Indyanne, who had been battling Indian Blessing for the win. “This was a bittersweet win," Baffert said. "I’m very sad about what happened to Indyanne."

To date, five of Indian Blessing's wins have been at a different racetrack. Much traveled, she has won at tracks on the U.S. Gulf Coast plus on both the East and West coasts of the United States.

Indian Blessing was awarded the Eclipse Award as American Champion Female Sprint Horse for 2008.

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