DEL MAR — Fans who bet Anisette and jockey Umberto Rispoli down to 3-10 odds had reasons to be anxious as the fillies and mares turned into the stretch in the Yellow Ribbon Handicap at Del Mar on Saturday.
But the horse and rider were as cool as ever.
Taking a path between the leaders, Anisette and Rispoli rallied from next to last in a field of six to win the $200,000, Grade II turf race by 1 1/4 lengths over Uncorked and Fuente Overjuna, who finished in a dead heat for second.
It was the third win in a row and sixth in eight starts in the United States for the 4-year-old British-bred, and made her 3 for 3 on the course where she became a Grade I winner last summer.
And it was the third Yellow Ribbon in a row for Rispoli, who won the 1 1/16-mile race the past two years with Going Global and Closing Remarks.
“On the turn, Umberto had to choose whether to go inside or outside,” said winning trainer Leonard Powell. “Once she leveled off, she really leveled off.”
Rispoli said he never considered trying to circle the field on the second turn, but what he really meant was that he’d made the quick calculation that staying inside was the way to go.
For one thing, he knew Anisette, assigned 126 pounds, was giving away six to nine pounds to her opponents, so it made sense to save a few steps by taking a shorter path. Also, he knew top-of-the-stretch leader Bellabel tended to lug out, which would clear a gap between her and Uncorked. And he knew his mount had the class to exploit any opening.
“On the turf, I never want to go around. (Only in) emergencies,” Rispoli said. “I decided to stay there (inside), and it paid off.”
Bellabell, who’d been second behind Ever Smart on a faster-than-normal early pace, faded to next to last while Ever Smart came in last.
Recent Yellow Ribbon winners have gone on to run in the John C. Mabee Stakes later in the Del Mar meet. Powell’s goal for Anisette (who paid $2.60 Saturday) is to get to the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf. That 1 3/8-mile race will be on the same course Nov. 2, so Anisette’s unbeaten record here is encouraging.
Rispoli will be aboard.
“I won easier than it looked,” Rispoli said. “She was the best.”
The $150,000, Grade III Sorrento is one Del Mar stakes for 2-year-olds that Bob Baffert doesn’t dominate from year to year, but the trainer ruled the race with one of his top young fillies Saturday.
Nooni, the daughter of Win Win Win purchased for $1.8 million by Amr Zedan at auction in March, led from start to finish with jockey Juan Hernandez in the 6-furlong race to beat Vodka With a Twist by 1 1/2 lengths.
Casalu, Baffert’s other filly in the four-horse field, faded from second to third.
In paying $3 as a heavy favorite, Nooni was clocked in 1:10.41. It was the fastest Sorrento since it was shortened from 6 1/2 furlongs in 2018, though Hernandez had to rouse her more in the stretch than he did in her 9 1/2-length debut victory in a 5-furlong race at Santa Anita in June.
“She picked it up really well,” Hernandez said. “She took another good step.”
Baffert said he didn’t train Nooni hard for the Sorrento, and is looking at the Sept. 7 Del Mar Debutante with her.
The Hall of Fame trainer hadn’t won the Sorrento since 2015, a fact he attributed to his 2-year-old fillies usually lagging behind his 2-year-old colts.
“My fillies are really strong (this year),” Baffert said.
Baffert-trained Getaway Car (Hernandez riding) is a 3-5 favorite on the morning line for the $150,000, Grade III Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar on Sunday, but the competition is deeper than it might have been after White Sands was confirmed for the 6-furlong race for 2-year-olds.
White Sands, a Wesley Ward-trained filly, was scratched from Saturday’s Sorrento, for which she was 3-1 second choice on the line, to run against colts in the Best Pal, for which she’s also the 3-1 second choice.
White Sands (Kazushi Kimura) is a daughter of leading sire Into Mischief and the only horse in the field of five who has more than one win. She won a stakes at Prairie Meadows in Iowa by nearly 14 lengths last time out.
But Getaway Car, a son of Curlin who cost $700,000 as yearling, is a deserving favorite after winning his debut by 3 1/4 lengths in 57.43 seconds for 5 furlongs on July 20.
He could be the third consecutive Best Pal winner for Baffert, whose 2023 winner Prince of Monaco won the Del Mar Futurity next time out.
• Hernandez and Reylu Gutierrez rode three winners each Saturday, and trainer Jeff Mullins saddled three. Hernandez expanded his lead over Rispoli in the Del Mar jockey standings to 21-14.
• The stewards gave Hernandez a one-day suspension and $500 fine for striking R Heisman with the whip one more time than allowed in the 2-year-old colt’s victory in the Graduation Stakes on Friday.
• A suspension presumably is coming for jockey Gutierrez after Forgiving Spirit was disqualified from third to sixth for shifting out in the stretch and interfering with other horses in Saturday’s second race.
