Rags to Riches returns to worktab

Rags to Riches is gearing up for her four-year-old bow (Benoit Photo)

Champion and classic heroine RAGS TO RICHES (A.P. Indy) recorded her first

workout since September when posting three furlongs in :38 2/5 over the good

dirt at Palm Beach Downs on Tuesday. Registering the quickest of seven moves at

that distance, the chestnut filly was a full second better than the next fastest

time.

Rags to Riches dominated the three-year-old filly ranks in 2007, breaking her

maiden in early January before going on to score in the Las Virgenes S. (G1) and

Santa Anita Oaks (G1) on the West Coast. She was sent off the 3-2 favorite in

the Kentucky Oaks (G1) next out and didn't disappoint, earning an easy 4

1/4-length win. Trainer Todd Pletcher and owners Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith

decided to send their star against the boys in her next start, and Rags to

Riches proved up to the task, becoming the first filly in 102 years to capture

the Belmont S. (G1). In the "Test of Champions," she battled and held eventual

Horse of the Year Curlin (Smart Strike) to second.

Rags to Riches wasn't as victorious in her next battle, fighting fevers and

training setbacks that kept her in the barn until the September 15 Gazelle S.

(G1). She picked up her first loss in the Gazelle since making her career debut,

but it was soon discovered that she had suffered a hairline fracture to her

right front pastern in the nine-furlong test.