Been Studying Her © Benoit Photo
KMN Racing’s Been Studying Her, winner of a maiden race at Sacramento in her career debut, stepped into stakes company Wednesday to score an upset victory in the featured $100,000 Generous Portion Stakes for California-bred two-year-old fillies.
Sent postward at 8-1 despite the presence in the saddle of Hall of Famer Mike Smith, Been Studying Her surged to the lead in the upper stretch and tallied by a length one-quarter in 1:11.56 for the six furlongs.
Cholula Lips, also at 8-1, moved with the winner into the stretch but was unable to keep pace in the final stages while finishing two and one-quarter lengths ahead of third-place Smiling Shirlee. Wise Rachel was fourth.
Unbeaten Bulletproof One, the 3-10 favorite on the basis of three impressive wins, including the C.T.B.A. Stakes, dueled for the lead until the top of the stretch and tired badly to be next-to-last in the field of seven fillies. Roses for Laura and I Want One were withdrawn.
Been Studying Her, trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, is a daughter of Fast Anna bred by the owners, Kevin and Kimberly Nish, of Fairfield, California. She returned $19.20, $9 and $7.40 while earning first money of $60,000. Runner-up Cholula Lips paid $9 and $6.20, while Smiling Shirlee returned $10.60 to show.
MIKE SMITH (Been Studying Her, winner) - “I got on her about a week ago and she showed so much class. Of course, she’s from a really good family. She ran to that class today. She relaxed for me going down the backside, and when an outside horse came up and I felt like they were going to pressure her, I kind of backed off but then when I asked she was ready. She pretty much did everything right today. ”
RAFAEL BEJARANO (Cholula Lips, second) - “I had a good trip. I was pretty much where I wanted to be. I was following the favorite and started to move, but then somebody came around me. No excuses, my horse likes to run like that, she likes to be close up.”
NORBERTO ARROYO, JR. ( Smiling Shirlee, third) - “She ran a little green. She didn’t like the dirt in her face. Other than that, she ran good. She wants to go farther.”
JERRY HOLLENDORFER (Been Studying Her, winner) “We always thought this was a really nice filly and Frank (Alvarado ) rode her for me up north. A couple days after I told him we were taking her south, he told me, ‘I’ll go anywhere to ride this filly at any time.’ He liked her a lot. The horse we beat ran up at Emerald Downs and won a stake, so it was pretty good company that she beat. We’ve always had high expectations for her.”
FRACTIONS: :22.00, :45.69 58.20 1:11.56
The stakes win was the second of the meeting, and first in the Generous Portion for rider Mike Smith. He now has 70 stakes wins at Del Mar, 10th all-time.
The stakes win was the second of the meeting, and first in the Generous Portion for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. He now has 38 stakes wins at Del Mar.
The winning owners are: Kevin and Kimberly Nish of Fairfield, Ca.