Bellafina © Benoit Photo
Clinching the two-year-old filly championship of the 2018 Del Mar summer racing season, Kaleem Shah’s Bellafina drew away in the stretch to win the Grade I $300,000 Del Mar Debutante in convincing fashion Saturday.
With jockey Flavien Prat in the saddle, Bellafina took the lead from the pacesetting Mother Mother going into the final turn en route to a daylight four and one-quarter length triumph in 1:25.51 for the seven furlongs. The early furlongs were quick, :21.93 for the first quarter and :44.68 for the half-mile time.
Mother Mother continued on gamely after relinquishing command and was three and one-quarter lengths in front of third-place Boujie Girl at the end. Brill, the 3-5 favorite, was a disappointment as she finished fourth, beating only 40-1 outsider Watch Me Burn.
Bellafina, an $800,000 purchase at a two-year-olds in training sale in Florida last March, went to the gate the second choice at 2-1 and paid $6.60, $3.20 and $3.20. First money of $180,000 increased her earnings to $308,000. On August 5, she won her first race in taking the Sorrento Stakes after finishing second in her career debut at Los Alamitos July 4.
Runner-up Mother Mother paid $4.20 and $3.60, while Boujie Girl returned $5.60 to show.
FLAVIEN PRAT (Bellafina, winner) – “No special instructions going in. She was more aggressive today. I think that race the other day (when she broke her maiden August 5 here going six furlongs) got her in that mode. She was on it. Then when she made the lead, she just dropped the bit; she backed off. Can she go farther? Well, I guess we’ll see.”
JOSEPH TALAMO (Mother Mother, second) – “My filly never got a breather. She had to run hard all the way. The winner didn’t.”
GEOVANNI FRANCO (Boujie Girl, third) – “She ran hard. She ran well for third.”
DRAYDEN VAN DYKE (Brill, fourth) – “That wasn’t her today. She didn’t run her race. She wasn’t there for me.”
SIMON CALLAGHAN (Bellafina, winner) – “She broke sharp, she was into the bit today and she was always in good position. The race went pretty much as we thought it might and it was a really good performance. It was nice to see her really show her class at the end. I said to Kaleem (owner Kaleem Shah) that she’s the best filly I’ve trained. She’s pretty special and I think she’s going to keep getting better.”
FRACTIONS: :21.93 :44.68 1:10.76 1:25.51
The stakes win was the sixth of the meet and second straight (Moonshine Memories, 2017) in the Del Mar Debutante for rider Prat. He now has 29 stakes wins at Del Mar.
The stakes win was the second of the meet and second straight (Moonshine Memories, 2017) in the Del Mar Debutante for trainer Callaghan. He now has nine stakes wins at Del Mar.
The winning owner is Kaleem Shah of Vienna, VA and San Diego, CA.