George Krikorian’s Star Act, longest shot at 20-1 despite the presence in the saddle of Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens, sliced between horses in the upper stretch to reach contention and then outran 5-2 second choice Circling in the final sixteenth to win Thursday’s feature race at Del Mar. 

 

Star Act, trained by Art Sherman of California Chrome fame, tallied by 1 ½ lengths in the mile and three-eighths marathon over the infield Jimmy Durante Turf Course. Circling, with Mike Smith up, was 3 ½ lengths in front of Kadesha, with Freethinker fourth in the field of nine distance horses.

 

Halljoy, the 2-1 favorite, was fifth.

 

Star Act, a four-year-old daughter of Street Cry and Starrer, accomplished the distance in 2:15.57 and returned $42.60, $16.60 and $8.60 to her backers in a crowd of 8,966. It was the filly’s second score in 13 starts.

 

Runner-up Circling paid $4.40 and $3.80, while Kadesha returned $6.60 to show.

 

For the second consecutive afternoon, there were no perfect tickets in the Pick Six. Thus, Friday’s Pick Six will have a two-day carryover of $235,618. Post time for the first race Friday is 4 p.m.