Fatale Bere © Benoit Photo
French-bred Fatale Bere, well handled by Hall of Fame rider Kent Desormeaux, overhauled 9-5 favored Ollie’s Candy in the final strides to win the Grade I $300,000 Del Mar Oaks for three-year-old fillies Saturday.
Rallying wide entering the stretch after being outrun early, Fatale Bere closed powerfully to triumph by a neck over Ollie’s Candy, who was piloted by Tyler Baze. Third in the field of a dozen fillies was Californiagoldrush, with Ms Bad Behavior fourth.
Fatale Bere, a daughter of Pedro the Great owned by Benowitz Family Trust and Head of Plains Partners, provided trainer Leonard Powell with his first success in a Grade I race.
The bay filly went off at odds of 7-1 and returned $16, $6.80 and $5.20 while earning first prize of $180,000 to increase her bankroll to $422,964. It was her fifth win in ten starts.
Runner-up Ollie’s Candy paid $4.40 and $3.40, while Californiagoldrush returned $6.20 to show.
Time for the nine furlongs on Del Mar’s turf was 1:48.14.
KENT DESORMEAUX (Fatale Bere, winner) – “It was the trip. Today, I got the trip; last time (Belmont Oaks on July 7) I had to go their way. This time I got to let her go when I was ready. Felt good; she was really running. They were playing ping-pong by the three-eighths (pole) (when race leader Animosity brushed the fence and caused issues with other horses), but I avoided all of that and just got to run my race. Good stuff.”
TYLER BAZE (Ollie’s Candy, second) -- “She was on it today. Ran a really good race. She was push button.”
FLAVIEN PRAT (Californiagoldrush, third) – “Good race for my filly. She ran well.”
TYLER GAFFALIONE (Animosity, 11th) – “I don’t know what happened to her. She was going along fine and all of a sudden she changed leads and shifted over and hit the fence. She lost her action. I had to get her back running again. I don’t know what it was.”
LEONARD POWELL (Fatale Bere winner) – “It does a little (compensate for Beach View’s scratch in the Pacific Classic). To win a Grade I is of great value and this is a filly that I scouted a year ago in France and purchased privately for owners that have been very loyal to the stable. The only instructions I said to Kent (Desormeaux) was to keep her covered up early. If you don’t keep her covered up, she’s rank, she pulls, sometimes the saddle goes forward. So the key is to keep her covered up, and then she’s good enough to do the job.”
FRACTIONS: :23.26 :47.01 1:12.31 1:36.15 1:48.14
The stakes win was the first of the meet but second (Dublino, 2002) in the Del Mar Oaks for rider Desormeaux. He now has 82 stakes wins at Del Mar, ninth most all time.
The stakes win was the second of the meet, but first in the Del Mar Oak for trainer Powell. He now has three stakes wins at Del Mar. This is also his first win in a Grade I race.
The ownership group consists of Gerald Benowitz of Las Vegas, NV, Richard Rosen of New York City and Mark Mathiesen of Rancho Santa Fe, CA.