DEL MAR : At No. 10, Molistar Should Have Enough Room in the Debutante
After hearing Molistar drew post No. 10 for the $250,000 Del Mar Debutante, trainer Robert Marshall felt much better about having paid $10,000 to supplement the 2-year-old filly to the race.
“I worry about post position; it’s very important to me,” said Marshall, who also owns Molistar in a partnership. “I don’t know if I would have been able to talk to you if I’d put up the money and she had drawn the rail.
“I’m pretty happy now. She can stalk from out there and not have to worry about [finding room].”
Molistar hasn’t let inside post positions bother her in her first two starts.
Breaking from the rail in her debut on July 23 at Hollywood Park, she rallied from far back to win going away, then won the California Thoroughbred Breeders Assn. Stakes here two weeks later after leaving from post No. 3.
Matched against strictly California-breds in those two races, Molistar will be looking at sterner competition Sunday in the seven-furlong Debutante, which attracted a full field of 12. The distance should suit Molistar. So should the anticipated fast pace.
Marshall’s biggest concern is what happens if jockey Laffit Pincay, who will be riding Molistar for the first time, uses his whip.
“She’s never been hit,” Marshall said.
Molistar’s perfect record so far probably doesn’t come as a surprise to at least one person.
“Neal Arvey, who has broken like 30-40-50 horses for me, told me that when she runs her first race, he wanted to be there, and he had never said that to me before,” Marshall said.
Molistar was sired by Prized, out of Mollywaki.
“I claimed Mollywaki for $50,000 and she had [a physical problem],” Marshall said. “I waited and ran her back for $20,000 and she won by five [lengths]. I ran her back for $32,000 hoping she would get claimed, but she ran like third or fourth and the game was over for her, so we bred her.”
Prized, who upset Sunday Silence in the 1989 Swaps and who also won the Breeders’ Cup Turf later that year, was chosen as the sire for one simple reason.
“I didn’t know what kind of a sire he would be, but he was something new and different in California,” said Marshall, “and so far his horses have been runners.”
Impressed with Molistar after he worked her in company several times, Marshall wasn’t thrilled when she drew the rail for her initial start.
“I would have scratched and waited for another race a few days later, but I wanted to make the CTBA Stakes and that would have made it real tight for that,” he said.
Shuffled back early, Molistar was nearly 10 lengths off the lead with two furlongs to run but came flying to beat Elegant Blast, who returned to win her next start.
The four-length CTBA victory followed. Now comes the Debutante. If she wins Sunday, Marshall may be looking at another supplementary payment. Molistar wasn’t nominated to the Oak Leaf, the prime race for 2-year-old fillies at the upcoming Oak Tree meeting at Santa Anita. She also isn’t Breeders’ Cup eligible, but the Juvenile Fillies isn’t in the plans.
Successful through the years with many of his claims, including Latin American, who won the 1993 Californian after being taken for $100,000, and Solar Launch, who shares the Del Mar track record for seven furlongs with Lit De Justice, Marshall looks to have made another good one in Noble Year.
Sixteen days after being claimed for $40,000, Noble Year ran six furlongs in 1:07 4/5 five days ago, beating $50,000 claimers by eight lengths.
“I think the [condition of the] track had a lot to do with the [time], but all I did different with him was put on a tongue tie and a figure-eight noseband,” he said. “I decided to do it after I heard him make a little noise while he was galloping. It was just a gut feeling.
“Plus, the clockers missed a nice work on him before the race. He went five furlongs in 59 2/5 and came home in 22 4/5 [for the last quarter-mile] and he was wearing the figure-eight and the tongue tie.”
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Possibly Perfect is favored to win for the seventh time in her last eight starts against six opponents in the $500,000 Beverly D. today at Arlington International Race Course in Illinois.
California-based fillies and mares have dominated the Grade I race in recent years and the main threat to Possibly Perfect is Alpride, who beat her in the Beverly Hills Handicap in her U.S. debut, then bled when fifth behind Possibly Perfect in the Ramona Handicap at Del Mar three weeks ago.
The remainder of the field in the 1 3/16-mile turf race includes Bold Ruritania, who has four victories in six starts this year; La Confederation, who will be making her American debut after winning three of seven in England and France; Alice Springs, fourth as the 2-5 favorite in the recent Matchmaker at Atlantic City, N.J., Go Jack Go and Fappitass.
Horse Racing Notes
Wende is the lukewarm 7-2 favorite against nine opponents in the $100,000 Osunitas Handicap today at 1 1/16 miles on the turf. . . . The Beverly D. will be simulcast today at Del Mar at 1:45 p.m., 15 minutes before the first race.