Fashion Business Makes Early Move to Take Del Mar 'Cap
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Photo: BENOIT PHOTO
Fashion Business gallops to a 5 1/4-length win in the Del Mar Handicap
The second time through the backstretch of the $250,000 Del Mar Handicap Presented by The Japan Racing Association (G2T), jockey Flavien Prat had seen enough.
Aboard Little Red Feather Racing and Marsha Naify's Fashion Business, Prat felt the pace was too slow, so he made his move.
It was a gamble, because he was several paths from the rail, but the 4-year-old Frankel gelding unleashed a turn of foot in the last of three turns that made ground loss inconsequential. Four wide in the final Del Mar bend, Fashion Business blew by the leaders in the 1 3/8-mile test and rolled to the wire 5 1/4 lengths ahead of his nearest competitor and finished off the distance in 2:13.84.
"On the backside I could tell they were going slow, and I went a little wide around there," Prat said. "I know it takes a little while to go around. I just kept digging in and he just finished."
Ashleyluvssugar took the lead early and ran the first quarter in :24.64, but was soon overtaken by Kenjisstorm, who opened up a 1 1/2-length advantage through a half-mile in :48.91 and continued on through six furlongs in 1:13.60 and a mile in 1:38.10.
Prat made his move, however, and the race was on only for the minors. Trained by Phil D'Amato, Fashion Business had a four-length lead with a furlong to go and extended the margin to the wire. D'Amato's second entry, 45-1 longshot Ya Gotta Wanna, overcame traffic trouble in the final turn to close for second, 1 1/4 lengths ahead of Multiplier in third.
Fashion Business came into the race winless in four starts over the Del Mar turf course, but D'Amato was confident he would turn in a top performance Saturday.
"I think Flavien just sense they were going so slow, it was a now or never-type move," the trainer said. "His race at Belmont (a fifth in the grade 1 Manhattan) was better than it looked ... (and his eighth-place finish in the grade 1 Eddie Read)—the mile and an eighth—we used that as a prep for this race and it just worked out."
Behind Multiplier came Colonist, Flamboyant, Ashleyluvssugar, Itsinthepost, Cashman, Unapologetic, and Kenjisstorm, to complete the order of finish. Whoop Whoop was eased and vanned off.
Bred in England by Andrew Rosen, out of the Empire Maker mare Icon Project, Fashion Business now has a 3-3-1 record from 12 starts and $283,885 in earnings. He is the first graded winner for Frankel in the United States.