Nooni © Benoit Photo
NOONI TAKES CENTERSTAGE IN G1 DEBUTANTE SATURDAY
Part of the allure of horse racing is spotting a superstar in the early stages of their career, following that horse as he or she develops and one day watching them score in one of the big races like the Kentucky Derby or the Pacific Classic or a Breeders’ Cup. It’s sort of like watching Tony Gwynn or Ladanian Tomlinson in their rookie years. You know they’re going to be good and when they start putting up the big numbers and winning the big games, or races, you can say you ‘knew them when.’
Nooni is one of those fillies that has landed on the radar with a lot of people and could one day be a star in the sport. But for now she has to pay her dues and gain some respect. That quest continues Saturday with the G1 FanDuel Racing Debutante at Del Mar. Seven 2-year-old fillies are set to line-up in the race that crowns the Del Mar summer meet’s Juvenile Filly champion.
The daughter of Win Win Win was a $1.8 million purchase at the March Ocala Breeders’ 2-Year-Olds in Training Sales in Florida. If that didn’t grab your attention, then her first two races surely would. Nooni broke her maiden at Santa Anita in June, winning by 9 ½ lengths. She came back last month and won again, wiring the field in the G3 Sorrento at Del Mar.
“She’s fast,” Baffert states. “She makes the lead easily. She’s been doing well. You never want to see them regress and it doesn’t look like she has.”
Nooni is one of two fillies Baffert brings to the Debutante. Tenma is the ‘other’ Baffert horse. She was a first-time winner, breaking her maiden at Del Mar last month.
“She’s more for distance,” Baffert claims. “I was surprised she won first out but she came off the pace and won. She came back and worked well. She looks good.”
The other five fillies and their connections are not about to hand the race to Nooni and Baffert on a silver platter. There are some serious runners entered, all hoping to spoil Nooni’s party.
Proud Starlet broke her maiden at first asking by four lengths at Del Mar in July.
“She had trained well,” trainer Tim Yakteen remembers, “and I was disappointed we had drawn the rail. Unfortunately, we’ve drawn the rail again (in the Debutante). That sort of forces your hand. You’re going to have to go so it looks like it will be a similar scenario. There’s not going to be any secrets on how we’re going to run our race.”
Which means Proud Starlet will be keeping Nooni company right from the start.
“I’d rather not run against Bob, if I had my druthers,” Yakteen says. “You don’t want to take on Goliath. But that’s sort of the way the cards fall. My horse is ready to run and I’m hoping for a big effort from her.”
Lost in the impressive wire-to-wire effort by Nooni in the Sorrento was Vodka With a Twist’s strong closing kick to grab second late and pull to within a length and a half of the winner in the end.
“That was very encouraging,” trainer Phil D’Amato notes. “She finished very well and acts like the added distance shouldn’t be an issue. I think the great thing about her is her versatility. Depending on where she draws and who her competition is I think Mike (Smith) will figure out the right spot.”
The 74th running of the FanDuel Racing Debutante will go off as the fourth race on the 11-race Saturday card. Past winners include Songbird, Bellafina, Chilukki, Landaluce, and Beholder’s young daughter, Tamara, last year. Probable post time is 3 p.m.
Here’s the field from the rail with the jockeys and the morning line odds: Proud Starlet (Umberto Rispoli, 15-1); Nooni (Juan Hernandez, 4/5); So There She Was (Antonio Fresu, 15-1); Vodka With a Twist (7/2); Night Beacon (Kyle Frey, 20-1); Tenma (Kazushi Kimura, 4-1), and Jack’s Magic Girl (Hector I. Berrios, 8-1).
ANISETTE GUNS FOR FOURTH STRAIGHT WIN IN JOHN MABEE SATURDAY
Anisette served notice last year when she won the G2 San Clemente on opening weekend at Del Mar. She became the darling of Del Mar when she returned a month later to capture the G1 Del Mar Oaks. She has done little wrong in 2024 and now must be considered the Queen of the Filly and Mare Turf division out west.
She will be back Saturday afternoon when she takes on six rivals in the G2 John C. Mabee, a mile and an eighth test on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course and the final graded stake for older horses at the meet. It will be her second race at Del Mar this summer. She won her third straight race last month when she took down the G2 Yellow Ribbon in typical Anisette style. She sat toward the back of the pack through the first half of the race then steadily gained ground through the turn and when she turned for home displayed her impressive turn of foot that carried her past the others and first to the finish line.
“It was a very good run,” trainer Leonard Powell states. “She had to carry a bit more weight because it was a handicap but she was able to overcome it and showed all the talent that she has.”
Anisette has run 11 times in her career and finished in the money in 10 of those races. Her only blemish coming in her first race, one of three races she ran in Britain to start her career. She arrived stateside early last year and has compiled a 6-2-0 record in eight starts on this side of the pond. All but one was a graded stake.
“Very well,” Powell says of Anisette’s training up to the race. “All is well and I’m expecting a good race from her again.”
She’ll be running less than month after her last race, which is not uncommon for her. She’s done it in the past with success.
“She’s going so good,” Powell notes, “but also because she’s undefeated at Del Mar.”
Which bodes well come Breeders’ Cup time.
“We take each race one at a time,” Leonard says, “but the Breeder’s Cup Filly and Mare Turf is the ultimate goal.”
Powell skipped last year’s Breeders’ Cup with Anisette, choosing instead to run in the G3 Autumn Miss at Santa Anita the next day. She finished second to Ruby Nell. Powell brought her back seven weeks later on opening day at Santa Anita and she scored her second Grade 1 win in the American Oaks. She added another Grade 1 in May when she won the Gamely on Memorial Day.
It’s not very often trainer Phil D’Amato doesn’t bring at least one of the favorites to a graded stakes grass race at Del Mar. Or for that matter, doesn’t bring two or three of the favorites. But in Saturday’s John C. Mabee, he’ll have to settle for third billing behind Anisette and Didia. That’s not to say D’Amato doesn’t come with a chance.
Del Mar’s leading trainer for the past two years has three horses in the Mabee. Uncorked was second to Anisette in the Yellow Ribbon, finishing in a dead-heat with Fuente Ovejuna, who is also in the race.
“At the top of the lane I thought she was going to win,” D’Amato remarked. “Anisette does what she does best so she came rolling late and mowed us down.”
D’Amato also brings Hang the Moon to the dance. The daughter of Uncle Mo finished second to Ag Bullet in the $100,000 Osunitas Stakes at Del Mar on opening weekend. Ag Bullet went on to set a course record at Kentucky Downs last week.
Hang the Moon spent the first year of her racing career in the Michael Stidham barn, racing back east. D’Amato gave her a 10-month break between August of 2023 and June of this year. She rewarded him with a win in a second-level allowance race at Santa Anita and then the runner-up finish in the Osunitas.
“I thought it was a really nice race,” D’Amato says. “Definitely the longer the better for her. The time off has helped her mature. She’s a big strapping filly. Probably needed time to fill into herself and now she’s hitting her stride.”
D’Amato’s third entry is Lucky Girl who finished fourth in the Yellow Ribbon last out.
Trainer Ignacio Correas brings Grade I winner Didia to Del Mar for the Mabee and Brendan Walsh returns with Fuente Ovejuna. Royal Charter is the ‘other’ Powell horse in the race.
The 67th running of the G2 John Mabee, named after the owner of the once-popular Golden Eagle Farm in Ramona and breeder of Best Pal, goes off as the ninth race on the 11-race Saturday card. Probable post time is 5:30 p.m.
Here’s the field from the rail with the jockeys and the morning line odds: Anisette (Umberto Rispoli, 7/5); Hang the Moon (Kazushi Kimura, 20-1); Lucky Girl (Mike Smith, 15-1); Uncorked (Antonio Fresu, 10-1); Royal Charter (Diego Herrera, 20-1); Didia (Hector I. Berrios, 4/5), and Fuente Ovejuna (Juan Hernandez, 20-1).
OVERSEAS PURCHASES ADD SPICE TO JUVENILE FILLIES TURF SATURDAY
The Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf, like its counterpart the G3 Juvenile Turf, is a relatively new race for Del Mar. Now in its 13th year, it sits on a stakes schedule laden with races by which their existences are measured in decades. It serves as a perfect jump off point for those fillies who have their eyes set on the Breeders’ Cup race run on Future Stars Friday.
A field of 12 will go to the gate Saturday for the one-mile turf event, two of which are making their first starts in the U.S.
Fondest Dream won her debut in a 5 ¼ furlong sprint at Brighton, England in April.
“Somebody presented her to me,” trainer Richard Baltas says about the purchase of the filly. “We watched her race in Europe and then I presented her to my client and we decided to take a shot with her.”
She’s been in Baltas’ barn since the spring.
“We had to wait for a race because she had already broke her maiden,” Baltas states. “She’s been ready to run for a while. She’s training well. She’s worked on the grass here a couple of times. She’ll be coming from off the pace and distance…that’s the last thing I’m worried about. I’m just worrying about if she has enough talent.”
The other filly making her stateside debut is An Chorr Dubh, an Irish-bred from the Mark Glatt barn. She also won at first asking, a seven furlong turf sprint at Gowran Park in Ireland.
“She’s been here a couple of weeks or so and came in real well,” Glatt notes. “She was a private purchase overseas. I train a number of horses for the ownership group (Rancho Temescal Thoroughbred Partners) and I was lucky enough to get her.”
An Chorr Dubh is a hillside or a mound overseas. Glatt is so high on the filly he’s also entered her against the boys in the Juvenile Turf on Sunday.
Trainer Phil D’Amato brings a pair of horses to the race. Thought Process, a daughter of Collected, broke her maiden last out at Del Mar, winning by 3 ½ lengths. She’s coming into the race off of a bullet five-furlong work on the turf last Sunday at Del Mar. Madonna of Loreto is D’Amato’s other entry. She has yet to break her maiden.
John Sadler has Supa Speed, a first-out winner. The daughter of Justify broke her maiden in a 5-furlong sprint at Del Mar last month.
“We think she’s a nice prospect,” Sadler says. “We don’t think going from five furlongs to a mile will be a problem. It looks like she’s a distance filly. We have one race for her and we’re in there.”
Trainer Bob Baffert passed on the Debutante with Casalu and entered her in the Juvenile Fillies Turf. She broke her maiden on opening day at Del Mar, winning by 5 ½ lengths only to finish third to Nooni in the G3 Sorrento next out.
“I’m just trying to separate these fillies,” Baffert says. “Do something different.”
The $100,000 Juvenile Fillies Turf is the fifth race on Saturday’s 11-race card. Probable post is 3:30 p.m.
Here’s the field from the rail with the jockeys and the morning line odds: Madonna of Loreto (Armando Ayuso, 15-1); Thought Process (Hector I. Berrios, 9-5); An Chorr Dubh (Mike Smith, 10-1); Fondest Dream (Antonio Fresu, 5-1); Casalu (Kazushi Kimura, 7/2); Global Consort (Jose Valdivia, 50-1); Supa Speed (Juan Hernandez, 6-1); Apocalyptic (Tyler Baze, 50-1); Caitlin Fever (Reylu Gutierrez, 15-1); Hey Lil Lady (Kent Desormeaux, 30-1); Twirling Light (Joe Talamo, 20-1), and Sea Runner (Umberto Rispoli, 12-1).
HANDICAPPING SEMINARS THIS WEEKEND AT DEL MAR
Del Mar offers a series of handicapping seminars this weekend. Every Saturday and Sunday during the summer meet, top handicappers offer their expertise prior to the races. The sessions are free on the patio of the Hacienda Room alongside the Plaza de Mexico behind the grandstand, west of the paddock.
On Saturday, host Frank Scatoni will have handicapper Andrew Brown as his guest. On Sunday, Dan Smith and clocker Toby Turrell will lend their insights into the races. The seminars start at 12:30 p.m. and last 30-to-35 minutes.
COOLING OUT: An interesting stat courtesy of Del Mar racing secretary David Jerkens. Through Labor Day, trainer Bob Baffert has won 48% of the races in which he’s entered at least one horse. The meet’s leading trainer has 21 wins out of 44 races…Jockey Juan Hernandez won two races Thursday, lifting him past the $3 million mark in earnings for the meet. Antonio Fresu is next with $2.6 million. Phil D’Amato leads the trainers with $2,090,568. Baffert is next with $1.8 million… All current college students get in to the races for free Saturday. It’s College Day at Del Mar. Bring a valid student ID and not only do you get into the races for free but your first $2 bet and tip sheet is on Del Mar. Plus students get exclusive access to grandstand seating…Notable works for Friday: Dirt – Fort Bragg (4f, :47.40); Skinner (4f, :51.80), and Sugar Fish (5f, 1:02.80).