Unique Bella cruises to big win in Las Virgenes Stakes

Genes and breeding matter in horse racing, and on an overcast Super Bowl Sunday at Santa Anita, Unique Bella, a royally-bred 3-year-old filly, ran away to an 8 3/4-length victory in the Grade II $196,000 Las Virgenes Stakes under Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith.

“It’s crazy how talented she is,” Smith said.

Unique Bella has won three of her four races by a combined 25½ lengths. She is a daughter of Tapit, North America’s No. 1 sire with a $300,000 breeding fee. Her mother is Unrivaled Belle, winner of the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

Her connections, Smith and Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, experienced this kind of excitement in the same race last year when the champion 3-year-old filly Songbird won by 6½ lengths at odds of 1-9.

Unique Bella also went off at odds of 1-9 and won by a larger margin in a field of four for the one-mile race. She started off in third place, with Mopotism and last year’s 2-year-old juvenile filly champion, Champagne Room, battling for the lead. Smith decided to turn loose Unique Bella on the backstretch, and the race was pretty much over. He had the same hold on her throughout the race, but at nearly 17 hands tall, Unique Bella is one powerful athlete.

“At some point, you have to let them be who they are,” Smith said. “Let them do what they’re good at. I just let her do what she wanted to do and she picked it up and was well within herself. It was an amazing race.”

Mopotism finished second, Champagne Room was third and Miss Southern Miss fourth. There was no show betting. Unique Bella returned $2.20 to win and $2.10 to place.

Now comes the speculation about how long Hollendorfer will keep racing Unique Bella only against fillies. Unlike Songbird, Unique Bella has been nominated for the Triple Crown races. And she’s bred to run on and on.

“I really like to concentrate on the filly races,” Hollendorfer said. “If an opportunity came to do something else, we’d probably have to consider that, but I’d like to keep her against the fillies if I can.”

Unique Bella is owned by the Chile-based Don Alberto Stable that has poured millions into its U.S. racing and breeding division. The racing manager, Fernando Diaz-Valdes, was at Santa Anita watching Unique Bella’s dominating performance.

“I think it’s too early to say,” he said about pointing toward the May 6 Kentucky Derby. “We’ll have to take a look at what’s happening around the country. We have to go to the next level first, probably a Grade III. I’m told I should go to the Kentucky Derby, when the time comes, but we’ll see.”

For now, the Santa Anita Oaks will be the race Hollendorfer points toward. And Smith, who rode Zenyatta and rides Songbird, can get excited again about riding his latest potential superstar horse.

“That was incredible,” he said, leaving the track on his way to watch the Super Bowl.

eric.sondheimer@latimes.com

Twitter: latsondheimer