Fashion Business © Benoit Photo
Given the signal to go by jockey Flavien Prat with approximately three furlongs to travel, Fashion Business swept by his competition in less than a sixteenth of a mile with a devastating move which propelled him to the lead and ultimately to a brilliant triumph in the Grade II $250,000 Del Mar Handicap Saturday.
Fashion Business, owned by Little Red Feather Racing and Marsha Naify and trained by Phil D’Amato, was unthreatened through the stretch as he hit the wire five and one-quarter lengths in front in 2:13.84 for the mile and three-eighths marathon over the infield Jimmy Durante Turf Course.
Runner-up was 45-1 longshot Ya Gotta Wanna, with Multiplier third and Colonist fourth in the field of eleven grass runners. Itsinthepost, the 5-2 favorite, was seventh. Withdrawn from the race was Ritzy A.P.
Fashion Business, an English-bred four-year-old son of Frankel, scored his third win in a dozen starts and first money of $150,000 increased his earnings to $283,885. Sent postward the 4-1 second choice, the winner paid $10.20, $5.80 and $4.20. Ya Gotta Wanna, who was ridden by Tiago Pereira, returned $35 and $13.40, while third-place Multiplier paid $4.80.
The Del Mar Handicap was a supporting feature on the day of the 28th running of the Grade I $1 million Pacific Classic.
FLAVIEN PRAT (Fashion Business, winner) – “On the backside I could tell they were going slow and I went a little wide around there. I know it takes a little time to go around. I just kept digging in and he just finished. I had a pretty clean trip.”
TIAGO PEREIRA (Ya Gotta Wanna, second) – “Pace a little slow. When I pushed to the outside he picked it up and he came strong down the stretch.”
TYLER GAFFALIONE (Multiplier, third) – “I got a little wide around there, but the post position didn’t help. He ran a very game race and finished up good.”
PHIL D’AMATO (Fashion Business, winner) – “I thought he was going to come running. I think Flavien (Prat) just sensed they were going so slow it was a now or never type move. His race at Belmont was actually way better than it looked. He was in a blanket finish and then the horse that finished behind him came back and won the Arlington Million. So it was a very productive race. The last race (Eddie Read Stakes) -- the mile and an eighth -- we used as a prep for this race and it just worked out perfect.”
FRACTIONS: :24.64 :48.91 1:13.60 1:38.10 2:02.07 2:13.84
The stakes win was the fifth of the meet and the second straight (Hunt, 2017) in the Del Mar Handicap for rider Prat He now has 28 stakes wins at Del Mar.
The stakes win was the third of the meet and the fourth (in the last five runnings) in the Del Mar Handicap for trainer D’Amato. He now has 23 stakes wins at Del Mar.
The ownership of the winner is the combination of the Little Red Feather group headed by Billy Koch of Los Angeles and Marsha Naify of Solana Beach, CA.