Madone © Benoit Photo

Eleven juvenile fillies will run on mile on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course Sunday in the ninth edition of the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf.  It is one of three stakes on the Sunday program that kicks off at 1 p.m.

The race, which has carried a purse of $100,000 for all its previous runnings, will offer only $75,000 this time due to a switch of its status to an overnight event. Because of belt-tightening issues tied to the pandemic this year, the stakes was initially dropped from the full stakes lineup. But when wagering was so strong early in the meet, it allowed the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club to bring back some of its canceled events, including the Juvenile Fillies Turf. It came back, though, as an overnight stakes with the reduced purse.  

The 11 runners are a lightly raced bunch, several of them with a lone start. And it is two of those lone starters – Kaleem Shah’s Madone and LNJ Foxwoods’ Ivy League – who appear the most dangerous in this renewal.

Madone, a daughter of the Medaglia d’Oro sire Vancouver, won her debut at Del Mar on July 31 in a straight maiden race at a mile on the lawn. She was home by a length and finishing a good second behind her was Ivy League, a filly by Medaglia d’Oro himself.

Not unexpectedly, the top two riders at Del Mar have the calls on the two hopefuls – Flavien Prat on Madone and Umberto Rispoli on Ivy League.  

Here’s the full field for the juvenile test from the rail out with riders and morning line odds:  Slam Dunk Racing or Platts’ Tetragonal (Drayden Van Dyke, 8-1); Madone (3-1); Red Barons Barn or Rancho Temescal’s Inner Beauty (Abel Cedillo, 5-1); Brown, Jr., Klein or Lebherz’s Super Game (Tiago Pereira, 15-1); Equilete Stable’s Frazzled (Jose Valdivia, Jr., 15-1); B-4 Farms’ Canoodling (Juan Hernandez, 8-1); Altamira Racing Stable, CYBT or Nentwig’s Nimbostratus (Ricky Gonzalez, 6-1); SoCal Seven Racing, Gardella or McMahon’s Basilia (Heriberto Figueroa, 15-1); Stable H M A’s My Princess Ellie (Giovanni Franco, 20-1); Kretz Racing’s Sweetest Angel (Mario Gutierrez, 20-1), and Ivy League (4-1).

The Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf will be the 8th Race on an 11-race card.