Summering Impresses in Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf
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Photo: BENOIT PHOTO
Summering wins the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar
Glen Hill Farm's homebred Summering followed up her eye-catching debut victory at Del Mar with her first stakes win Sept. 3 in the $100,000 Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf.
Off a front-running debut score July 29 at a mile on the grass, the War Front filly trained by Tom Proctor again raced near the front of the pack in the one-mile Juvenile Fillies Turf with a pressing trip to the outside of longshot pacesetter Noble Contessa, then put a head in front late in the second turn.
Reddam Racing's maiden Bizwhacks loomed as a potential challenger turning for home, but couldn't keep up and was passed by Lady Prancealot for second late. Summering finished off the distance under jockey Drayden Van Dyke in 1:37.15, which was nearly two seconds slower than her debut win, but the early pace—:23.57, :48.91, and 1:13.38 through six furlongs—also was significantly slower.
"Today I had what you'd call a golden trip," Van Dyke said of the 1 1/4-length win. "She was always there and fired big. And I had a tough time pulling her up. She wanted to keep on going. She's a good one."
Bred in Florida out of the Indian Charlie mare Wishing Gate, Summering has $96,000 in earnings from her two starts. She is War Front's 75th black-type stakes winner.
"It's nice to have a filly like this—the fourth generation in the family that we've owned—win a stakes in her second start," said Glen Hill's Craig Bernick. "We'll go on to Santa Anita, and if she wins again, we'd consider the (grade 1) Breeders' Cup (Juvenile Fillies Turf), but she'd have to win well. One step at a time."
Video: Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf S. (BT)
One race later, Alan Klein and Philip Lebherz's Miss Sunset kept her undefeated record on the Del Mar dirt intact with a victory in the $75,000 C.E.R.F. Stakes, the second consecutive year she's won the race and third straight year she's won a stakes at Del Mar.
After a stalking trip behind pacesetter Dis Smart Cat, the 4-year-old Into Mischief filly trained by Jeff Bonde took over the lead in the stretch of the six-furlong sprint and held off Show It N Moe It to win by 1 1/2 lengths. A nine-time stakes winner—including a graded score in the Lexus Raven Run Stakes (G2) in 2017—Miss Sunset has $879,395 in earnings and a 10-3-2 record from 18 starts. She last raced in the May 27 Desert Stormer Stakes (G3), where she finished second behind eventual grade 1 winner Marley's Freedom.