NEWS
Tell a Kelly stars in Debutante
Posted: Saturday, September 04, 2010 10:41 PM
TELL A KELLY
Benoit & Associates photo
To watch a video replay of the Darley Debutante, click here.
by Mike Curry
Tell a Kelly inhaled front-running Sorrento Stakes (G3) winner Wickedly Perfect and drove clear to a visually impressive victory in the Darley Debutante Stakes (G1) on Saturday at Del Mar.
The Tapit filly, named for owners Ike and Dawn Thrash’s daughter, closed from last to first under Alonso Quinonez to successfully make the jump from maiden winner to Grade 1 winner. Tell a Kelly also jumped into the picture for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) for trainer John Sadler with a dominant win over nine challengers.
“Fabulous—what a big kick,” Dawn Thrash said after watching the replay of Tell a Kelly’s powerful finish.
Tell a Kelly completed seven furlongs in 1:23.05 on the synthetic Polytrack surface, dominating runner-up Wickedly Perfect by 4 1/2 lengths.
"She broke well and I could tell they were going very, very fast up there,” Quinonez said of the early pace, with Wickedly Perfect showing the way through a half-mile in :44.96. “I just let her settle and then I started looking for my spots. I didn't want to get caught in behind some horse that was stopping; I wanted to go with the horses that were going. It all worked out great. I asked her and she exploded. She a very nice filly and I'm glad I got to ride her."
Tell a Kelly entered off a similar closing performance on August 15 at Del Mar. She closed from last of seven in a six-furlong maiden special weight race and powered away to win by 2 1/2 lengths. Her maiden win followed a troubled debut on July 25 at Del Mar in which she broke slowly and finished fifth after finding traffic in the stretch.
"The first race she ran here she was pretty green, but showed a lot of determination,” Sadler said. “The second time she caught a heavy favorite and was much better and won. We were asking a lot of her running three times at Del Mar, but [2008 champion two-year-old filly] Stardom Bound did it a couple of years ago, so we gave it a try. I was hoping there would be a good pace, because she likes to ease back and settle. She was able to do that today.”
Wickedly Perfect, sent off as the 2.80-to-1 favorite in the field of ten two-year-old fillies, was 2 1/4 lengths clear of third-place finisher Rigoletta.
Out of the winning Tabasco Cat mare Evrobi, Tell a Kelly will be pointed to the Oak Leaf Stakes (G1) at the Oak Tree meeting at Hollywood Park.
“We'll stay home and run at Oak Tree in the Oak Leaf and then head for Kentucky for the Breeders' Cup [Juvenile Fillies]," Sadler said.
Mike Curry is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor
For an Equibase chart, click here.
READER COMMENTS
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Posted by: Handicapper, Inglewood, CA on September 10, 2010 at 08:25 PM
Tell A Kelly was just awesome, and that turn of foot she displayed was enough to put a chill in her B.C.Juvenile Fillies opposition. Let's she how she pan's out in her next start and go from there. Congrat's to her connection's and John Sadler who has another possible monster in the making here to along with Twirling Candy, Sidney's Candy and now this one.
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Posted by: Westcoastman, Los Angelas, CA on September 07, 2010 at 09:07 PM
By my count, it now looks like California based racehorses who may be top ranked in their races at the BC are:
(1) Zenyatta (BBC),(2) Blind Luck (3 yr old F), (3) Lookinatlucky (3 yr old colt), (4) Tell A Kelly (2 yr old filly), as well as several others
Represent!!!!
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Posted by: Mike, Portland, OR on September 07, 2010 at 09:00 PM
Wow! That was visually impressive, for a inexperienced baby to be last down the backstretch by at least 12-15 lengths, and then cash up that effortlessly, to then have to checkup slightly, jump heals, never lose momentum or focus, and to embarrass the favorite (and all others) like that, well....what can you say....Breeders Cup, 2 yr old filly FAVORITE!!! P.S. liked the story Frank M. of the TVG crew told us about how these owners name their horses after family members and how they won the Oaklawn Derby with "lion of DAVID" and now this race with "tell a KELLY", and then informs us that the real David and Kelly are indeed married to each other.
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