And Tell Me Nolies Upsets Del Mar Debutante

When Satin Doll  reared in the gate before the TVG Del Mar Debutante (G1), And Tell Me Nolies  could easily have gotten upset, especially considering she's a 2-year-old filly who had started only twice. Instead, And Tell Me Nolies remained level-headed and proceeded to turn in a professional performance, surging forward at the wire to defeat favored Home Cooking  by a head.

The race was delayed slightly due to the incident, and Satin Doll was scratched. That required the horses to be backed out of the gate and reloaded. When the starter finally was able to send the field on its way, And Tell Me Nolies had to withstand some bumping and crowding, getting shuffled back to next-to-last in the seven-horse field.

Arella Star , an invader from Florida, took the early lead, speeding the first quarter-mile in :22.01, with Kissed by Fire  and Fast and Shiny  up very close to her. Home Cooking, the 7-10 choice ridden by Mike Smith, moved forward quickly on the outside to get the lead approaching the half-mile pole. She led by 1 1/2 lengths at the three-eighths pole, completing the first half-mile in :44.36.

Ice Dancing , a maiden trained by Richard Mandella, ranged up outside of Home Cooking leaving the quarter pole. Meanwhile, And Tell Me Nolies, piloted by Ramon Vazquez, moved up willingly to emerge on the scene coming to the top of the lane.

Passing Ice Dancing, And Tell Me Nolies took aim on Home Cooking, who had a three-length advantage midstretch. Closing ground with every stride, And Tell Me Nolies just caught the favorite at the wire, stopping the timer in 1:23.29 for seven furlongs. Home Cooking finished 3 3/4 lengths ahead of Ice Dancing.

And Tell Me Nolies, 3-1 on the morning line, went off as the 9-1 fifth choice. Peter Miller trains the filly for owner Peter Redekop and unveiled her at Del Mar July 23, the second day of the meeting. Squeezed between rivals in the turn of the five-furlong race, And Tell Me Nolies finished fourth behind winner Satin Doll. In a 6 1/2-furlong maiden race Aug. 14, And Tell Me Nolies raced inside of pacesetter and favored Halosnheaven  and then battled with that one gamely throughout the stretch to prevail by a neck.

Vazquez has ridden And Tell Me Nolies in all three of her starts. With the Debutante, the jockey won the first grade 1 of his career in a U.S. state, though he had previously piloted a grade 1 winner in Puerto Rico. 

"I told Peter that I had confidence in this filly right from the start," Vazquez said. "I'm glad he was loyal to me and let me ride her in this one. She was a runner all the way today, and I knew I was the winner at the wire."

Miller was winning his second Debutante, following Set Play  in 2007.

"I didn't see a ton of speed on the form," said the trainer of this year's Debutante. "I think he (Vazquez) wanted to get position, which he did. I did like some of the moves he made. At the five-eighths pole when he beat Cedillo (Abel Cedillo on Vegas Magic ) to the spot, and then when he got her outside around the 2 1/2-furlong pole, I felt really good."

Redekop's racing manager, Bryan Anderson, represented the owner for the Debutante. Anderson purchased And Tell Me No Lies for $230,000 from consignor Off the Hook at this year's Ocala Breeders Sales' spring sale of 2-year-olds. The filly had previously sold for $70,000 to DJ Stable out of the Mulholland Springs consignment to the 2021 Keeneland January mixed sale. Lara Run LLC bred the daughter of Arrogate --Be Fair , by Exchange Rate , in Kentucky.

Bob Baffert, the trainer of Home Cooking and the leading trainer of Debutante winners with 10, also trained Arrogate. Home Cooking had broken her maiden by 9 1/4 lengths Aug. 21 at Del Mar, and her owners, Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman, are currently atop the Del Mar standings.

D. Wayne Lukas, second to Baffert with nine Debutante winners, trained Be Fair, winner of the 2009 St. George Stakes (G3) at Saratoga. Be Fair is a half sister to millionaire grade 1 winner Macho Again.

Video: TVG Del Mar Debutante S. (G1)