SARATOGA SPRINGS — Though she had yet to run a race, Indian Blessing was hardly a secret when she stepped into the starting gate for her career debut last summer at Saratoga Race Course.

A runaway victory in near track-record time was followed by consecutive Grade I wins and the Eclipse Award for champion 2-year-old filly.

“When I had her at Del Mar before I brought her here, she was really showing us what she was,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “Those

really good ones, they tip themselves off in the morning. Knock on wood, she’s really lasted.”

Indian Blessing returns to Sar­atoga today to go after her fourth Grade I victory in the $250,000 Test. The 3-5 program favorite, she will carry topweight of 122 pounds in the field of six.

“In the barn she’s a real sweetheart,” said Baffert, who arrived in town this week from California. “She’s very nice, very sweet, but she’s got that competitive spirit when she gets out there.”

A daughter of Indian Charlie, she made that clear from her first start. Last Aug. 30, she went gate to wire to win by 51⁄4 lengths in 1:03.26 for 51⁄2 furlongs as the 4-5 favorite. The time was .13 seconds off the track record set by her former stablemate J Be K a day earlier.

From there, Indian Blessing won the Grade I Frizette at a mile and navigated the Monmouth Park slop to capture the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. She began 2008 by winning the Grade II Santa Ynez in California and the Grade III Silverbulletday before running second to Proud Spell in the Grade II Fair Grounds Oaks March 8.

“When I took her back to Fair Grounds, we were trying to rate her,” Baffert said. “When she’s gotten beat, she got beat by good fillies . . . so you can’t take that away from her.

“It’s one of those things where the older they get, they start relaxing a bit more, and start getting with the program. She looked fantastic in her last race.”

In her most recent start, Indian Blessing came from off the pace to win the Grade I Prioress going six furlongs in the Belmont Park mud

July 5, earning a career-best Beyer speed figure of 110.

“I don’t know if she really rated as much as they outfooted her away from there, and she wasn’t used to that,” Baffert said. “I liked the way that at least she didn’t run right on up behind them. She was relaxed.”

Indian Blessing will break from the outside post six today. She is 3-for-5 in 2008 with two seconds, beaten 41⁄2 lengths by Zaftig June 7 in Belmont’s Grade I Acorn at one mile. After the race, Baffert replaced jockey Garrett Gomez with John Velazquez.

“In the Acorn, she broke a little slow,” he said, “and [Gomez] sort of punched her into the race a little bit, and then she took off.”

Owned by Hal and Patti Earnhardt, who are visiting Saratoga for the first time, Indian Blessing had a strong five-furlong work here July 26 in :592⁄5, ranking third of 93 horses on the day at the distance.

“She’s doing well and still training well. She looks good,” Baffert said. “She’s been so good to us, we just enjoy watching her run. She’s one of the good ones, one of the franchise horses.

“She’s just named right. She’s been a blessing. It’s hard to get these types.”

Also in the Test are Palanka City, winner of the Grade III Miss Preakness May 16 now with trainer Barclay Tagg; J Z Warrior, a 10-length maiden winner at Saratoga last summer for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott; and English import Sweet Hope.

Owned by High Bank Syndicate, Sweet Hope earned a 108 Beyer winning the $60,000 Beaut­iful Day at Delaware Park June 23 in her last start and first for trainer Larry Jones.

“She apparently ran well at Bay Meadows and when the shipped her down to Hollywood, she just did not seem to care for it as well as she did the conventional dirt, so they sent her to us,” Jones said.

“She can run really fast. That’s the only thing I’ve seen out of her. We ran her the one time and I said, ‘Wow.’ She’s a pretty nice filly, it looks like.”