Rabeeba © Benoit Photo
Michael Lund Petersen’s Rabeeba made the climb from allowance horse to stakes winner in good fashion Sunday at Del Mar in the 49th edition of the Torrey Pines Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. The Grade III offering carried a purse of $151,000 and rewarded the daughter of Curlin with a first prize of $90,000.
Hall of Fame conditioner Bob Baffert saddled the chestnut lassie and gave top rider Juan Hernandez a leg up on her en route to them covering a mile on the main track in 1:38.19 and winning by two and a quarter lengths.
Finishing second was Reddam Racing’s She’s No Quant, who was two and a quarter lengths ahead of WSS Racing’s Bank Shot.
Rabeeba, who is now undefeated in three outings, paid her backers in the sun-splashed crowd $4.20 for $2 as the race favorite.
The stakes win was the ninth in the Torrey Pines for Baffert and his Del Mar leading 193rd added money tally. The score for Hernandez was his ninth of the stand and his 74th all told at the shore oval.
Racing will now take a brief pause over the next three days, then finish the meet strong over the five days of the Labor Day weekend. First post will be the standard 2 p.m. for next Thursday and Friday, then switch to 1:30 p.m. for the closing three days of the session.
JUAN HERNANDEZ (Rabeeba, winner) – (When told this was his ninth stakes win of the meeting) “Yes, this has been a good meet for me. I have to thank all the owners and trainers who let me ride their horses. And I have to thank my agent (Craig O’Brien); he works very hard. Then, of course, I have to thank the horses. They are the ones who do the work. Today, this filly was a little green. She got dirt in her face for the first time and I don’t think she liked it. She’s a big filly and she wanted to go today. I had to work with her to get here in the right spots, but in the end it was OK.”
BOB BAFFERT (Rabeeba, winner) – “She’s never been behind horses and she didn’t break that well so he (jockey Juan Hernandez) didn’t want to send her out there and go too fast. She’s learning. We’ve been taking baby steps with her. She’s a big filly and Juan said he had to get her in gear again so it shows the class is there. She was running against an experienced, nice group of fillies here.”
FRACTIONS: :23.39 :46.96 1:11.67 1:24.72 1:38.19
The stakes victory was the ninth of the meet for rider Hernandez and his second in the Torrey Pines (Hope Road, 2024). He now has 74 stakes wins at Del Mar.
The stakes victory was the third of the meet for trainer Baffert and his ninth in the Torrey Pines. He now has 193 stakes wins at Del Mar, far and away the most by any trainer in track history.
The winning owner is Michael Lund Petersen.