Champion Blind Luck Dead

Blind Luck (Pollard's Vision–Lucky One, by Best of Luck), champion 3-year-old filly of 2010 and a finalist for the Eclipse Award during her freshman campaign, passed away in April in Japan two days after foaling a colt by Kitasan Black (Jpn), according to Japanese studbook records.

Bred in Kentucky by Bill and Terry Baker's Fairlawn Farm, the chestnut filly with a white blaze was consigned by that operation to the 2008 Fasig-Tipton July Sale, where she was hammered down to Juvenal Diaz's Omega Farm for $11,000 and was bought back on a bid of $10,000 at the OBS April Sale the following spring. Acquired privately by a team headed up by trainer Jerry Hollendorfer after breaking her maiden for Diaz by better than 13 lengths for a $40,000 tag at first asking, Blind Luck headed west and was runner-up in the GI Del Mar Debutante before taking the GI Oak Leaf Stakes in her two-turn debut. A troubled third in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, she walloped her rivals by seven lengths in the GI Hollywood Starlet Stakes on the synthetic track to enter the Eclipse discussion (video).

Blind Luck kicked off her sophomore season in the GI Las Virgenes Stakes, just getting the better of Evening Jewel (Northern Afleet) and won her first graded stakes on the dirt in the GII Fantasy Stakes. The 13-10 favorite in the GI Kentucky Oaks, Blind Luck trailed the field, but came with her trademark flying finish to once again nose out Evening Jewel (video).

The 2010 GII Delaware Oaks marked the first of four straight meetings with an upstart filly named Havre de Grace (Saint Liam), where the unexposed Fox Hill runner got first run, but Blind Luck came running late and was on the winning end of the photo. A neck separated the two in a slow-paced renewal of the GI Alabama Stakes, but Havre de Grace turned the tables in the GII Cotillion Stakes, scoring by a neck while in receipt of 10 pounds. Blind Luck was upset at 3-2 in the GI Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic, with Havre de Grace one spot back in third.

Blind Luck dropped her first three starts as a 4-year-old, including a runner-up effort to Havre de Grace in the GIII Azeri Stakes, but she bounced back to avenge her loss in the Ladies' Classic with a half-length defeat of Unrivaled Belle (Unbridled's Song) in the GI La Troienne Stakes. Late-running winner of the GI Vanity Stakes back on the Hollywood synth, she squared off one last time with Havre de Grace in a gripping renewal of the 2011 GII Delaware Handicap. Relying on her closing kick, she ranged up to Havre de Grace at midstretch and the two exchanged blows to the wire, with Blind Luck prevailing narrowly (see below). She retired with 12 wins from 22 starts and earnings of $3,279,520.

Part-owner Mark DeDomenico paid $2.5 million to buy out his partners in Blind Luck at the 2011 Keeneland November Sale and she was offered again at the 2015 Keeneland January Sale, where she was led out unsold on a bid of $1.4 million in foal to Midnight Lute. She is the dam of four winners from six to race, including the DeDomenico-bred Kafoo (Curlin), Group 3-placed in Dubai. Acquired privately and sent to Japan in 2019, the mare has been represented by G1 Racing Co. Ltd.'s 3-year-old filly Proven Winner (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}), a maiden winner at Hakodate June 30. She did not produce a foal in 2022 and her yearling full-brother to Proven Winner made $335,839 at this year's JRHA Select Sale.

Shadai Farm purchased Lucky One for $1.85 million at KEENOV in 2010 carrying a full-sibling to Blind Luck, but that foal passed away at an early age. Lucky One produced two additional foals, but she also died after foaling a Deep Impact (Jpn) filly in 2014.

Blind Luck has been a candidate for induction into the Hall of Fame since 2018.