Anisette © Benoit Photo
Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners’ Anisette, the 3-10 favorite in a field of six fillies and mares, raced to an impressive length and a quarter triumph Saturday at Del Mar in the 72nd running of the Yellow Ribbon Handicap.
The classy 4-year-old daughter of the Irish stallion Awtaad waited for room on the turn for home in the mile and one-sixteenth turf test, then when it came she accelerated nicely under regular rider Umberto Rispoli and cleared her foes in the $200,500, Grade II headliner.
There was a rare dead-heat for second in the race with The Elkstone Group’s Uncorked and Farfellow Farms’ Fuente Ovejuna finishing exactly even behind the winner.
Anisette ran the distance in the good time of 1:40.94 and earned a first prize of $120,000. This was her seventh career win in her 11th start and her earnings boosted her total purses to $906,871. She is trained by Frenchman Leonard Powell.
Six of Anisette’s seven scores have come on turf. She has three Grade I and two Grade II tallies on the green and is a perfect three-for-three on Del Mar’s Jimmy Durante Turf Course.
Earlier in the program, heavily favored Nooni outran three rivals to come away with her first stakes win in the 56th edition of the Sorrento Stakes for 2-year-old fillies going six furlongs. The 1/2 favorite was a length and a half best at the wire.
The winner, a $1.8-million 2-year-old-in-training purchase this past March in Florida by Zedan Racing Stables, was scoring her second victory in her second start. In both cases, trainer Bob Baffert had rider Juan Hernandez in the irons.
The Grade III Sorrento carried a purse of $150,000 and rewarded the winner with $ 90,000. Nooni now has $122,400 in earnings.
Finishing second in the dash was Medallion Racing, Aldabbagh or Strauss’ Vodka With a Twist, who had three and a quarter lengths on Pegram, Watson and Weitman’s Casalu.
Nooni returned $3.00 to win and $2.20 to place. There was no show betting in the short field. Final time for the six panels was 1:10.41.
Racing will be back on Sunday at Del Mar with a first post of 2 p.m.
UMBERTO RISPOLI (Anisette, winner) – “I knew Bellabel up ahead of me is the kind that wants to lug out. So I knew there’d be a spot for me coming home. I also knew I was on the best filly; that makes a difference. I was giving pounds away (from six to eight), so you have to be aware of that. But I won today even easier than it looked. She was the best.”
LEONARD POWELL (Anisette, winner) – “They went the second quarter in :23 and they didn’t back up but I felt she was in a good spot. When they made the turn, Umberto (Rispoli) had to choose outside or inside and remember, she had to give six, eight, 10 pounds to the field so weight did matter, but once she leveled off, she really went on and at the sixteenth pole I knew she would get there.”
FRACTIONS: :22.98 :46.13 1:10.71 1:34.94 1:40.94
The stakes win was the fourth of the meet for rider Rispoli and his third straight in the Yellow Ribbon. He now has 29 stakes wins at Del Mar.
The stakes win was the first of the meet for trainer Powell and his first in the Yellow Ribbon. He now has 12 stakes victories at Del Mar.
The winning owner is Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, headed by Aaron Wellman of Rancho Santa Fe, CA.