Anisette © Benoit Photo
One of the class acts of the Del Mar racing season – the multiple-stakes winner Anisette – will strut her stuff at the seaside oval Saturday in the 72nd edition of the Yellow Ribbon Handicap, a Grade II feature that carries a $200,000 purse.
Also on the agenda for the 10-race card is the 56th running of the Sorrento Stakes, a Grade III test for 2-year-old fillies that offers a $150,000 purse.
The Yellow Ribbon goes as Race 8 (approximate 5:30 p.m. post) and the Sorrento as Race 5 (approximate 4 p.m. post).
There are five older mares willing to take on the 4-year-old Anisette in the mile and one sixteenth turf test that is the Yellow Ribbon. The race favorite has been assigned topweight of 126 pounds and will spot her rivals from six to nine pounds in the weights.
Anisette, a 4-year-old British-bred filly by the Irish stallion Awtaad, has been handled in fine fashion by the Frenchman Leonard Powell, who now trains her for Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners. The conditioner has nicely spotted his charge for seven starts stateside over the past two years, coming away a winner in five of them and running second in the other two. Six of those races were Graded stakes, including triumphs in a pair of Grade 1 features last December (American Oaks) and this May (Gamely Stakes) at Santa Anita. She’s now won $796,871 in purses.
Powell has prepped her steadily for the Yellow Ribbon and once again has the saddle services of Umberto Rispoli for her Saturday saunter.
Chief threat to the top one – who has drawn a stout 3/5 assessment in the morning line – appears to be the Australian mare Uncorked, who races for the Elkstone Group and runs out of the barn of Phil D’Amato. Antonio Fresu has the call on the Aussie-bred daughter of Pierro.
The Sorrento, which is one of the key preps for the Grade I FanDuel Racing Del Mar Debutante on September 7, will be contested at six furlongs and has lured a field of five young fillies.
The probably favorite in the dash is Zedan Racing Stables’ Nooni, a $1.8 million horses of racing age purchase this past March who won like a good thing in her racing debut at Santa Anita on June 13, skipping home by nine and a half lengths in good time for the five-panel straight maiden test. Del Mar’s top rider, Juan Hernandez, will ride her back on Saturday.
Nooni will have to have her running shoes on tight, though, being as how she’s going to be challenged by two out-of-town shipper who are coming in off stakes victories.
Magnier or Shanahan’s White Sands took down the Prairie Meadows Juvenile in Iowa by nearly 14 lengths on July 6. She’s trained by veteran Wesley Ward and is scheduled to be ridden by another veteran, Joe Bravo. Also in the lineup is Medallion Racing, Aldabbagh or Strauss’ Vodka With a Twist, fresh off a tally in the Debutante at Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY. D’Amato will handle the filly locally and has the saddle services of Mike Smith for her Sorrento go.