Janet Is at Home on Del Mar’s Turf

DEL MAR — At Del Mar, trainer Darrell Vienna and the English-bred filly Janet are a force to follow. A year ago, Janet, new to the U.S., was 17-1 winning an allowance race, and on Saturday she was the longest shot on the board, winning the $400,000 Ramona Handicap by beating five foes that included favorite Tranquility Lake.

While Tranquility Lake, the 3-5 choice, and jockey Eddie Delahoussaye were trying to overhaul the pacesetting Minor Details on the inside, David Flores closed with Janet in the center of the track for a half-length victory. Tranquility Lake salvaged second place, nosing out Minor Details, and it was another neck back to Beautiful Noise in fourth.

Janet’s last start, a third-place effort at Belmont Park, was a throw-out because torrential rain had forced the track to take the race off the grass and Vienna’s filly ran on dirt for the first time.

Owned by Jed Cohen, Janet paid $32.80 for $2, running 1 1/8 miles on grass in 1:48 1/5 and earning $240,000 in her first Grade I start. Overall, Janet has won six of 16 races.

“This filly has a terrific turn of foot and I just had to wait to use it,” said Flores, who won the Ramona two years ago with Tuzla. “On the turn, I saw that [Delahoussaye] still had [some horse left] and I was hoping I could swing out and follow him. The hole opened and my horse went. She fired right when I needed it.”

Tranquility Lake ran fifth behind Tuzla in the 1999 Ramona and missed the race last year, apparently infected from a spider bite the week of the race. This time, she carried 123 pounds, seven more than Janet.

“She ran hard,” Delahoussaye said. “I’m not the kind to complain about weight, but you know it had to affect things. I mean a pound or two I don’t think makes any difference. But [this] had to make a difference.”

Vienna’s previous Ramona victory came with Short Sleeves--ridden by Delahoussaye--in 1987. Vienna said that he had considered other options--a race at Hollywood Park, a stake in New York--before settling on the Ramona for Janet.

“Jed was going to be here,” Vienna said. “It wasn’t the softest spot, but it was important for him to win a race down here. She’s been unlucky in a lot of races. She would have won a lot more if she hadn’t been so unlucky.”

The race didn’t go as planned.

“We wanted her in the clear, and not have her pull behind horses,” Vienna said. “But David had no choice. It wasn’t what we wanted to do, but we liked the result. It’s fun when you do this sort of thing at Del Mar.”

Kona Gold, bidding for his seventh consecutive victory and trying to log back-to-back victories in the Bing Crosby Breeders’ Cup Handicap, is the 7-5 morning-line favorite in today’s 56th running of the stake. Caller One is 8-5 in a six-horse field that might be reduced by a couple of scratches.

Kona Gold will be making his first start since he won by a neck on April 1 at Santa Anita, where Hollycombe and Explicit dead-heated for second place. Hollycombe is expected to run today.

Dubai Touch, the Saint Ballado colt that cost Sheik Mohammed of Dubai $1.4 million as a yearling, made his debut in the sixth race and finished last. Dubai Touch, coupled with Dubai Edition and sent off as the 4-5 favorite, dropped Flores leaving the tunnel leading to the track for the post parade and almost collided with the inner rail.

The race was won by another of trainer Bob Baffert’s promising 2-year-olds, Saturday Hero. A son of Carson City, Saturday Hero had run fifth in his debut at Hollywood Park on July 1. Saturday Hero ran six furlongs in 1:10 2/5; last Wednesday--opening day--Baffert’s first-time starter, Ecstatic, ran five furlongs in :58 1/5 for a two-length victory.

The hopes of trainer David Hofmans and jockey Chris McCarron vanished a few strides out of the gate Saturday in the $350,000 Coaching Club American Oaks at Belmont Park. Starrer, the 9-10 favorite, stumbled, dumping McCarron, and that set up the 1 1/2-mile race for Tweedside, who registered a 7 3/4-length victory against Exogenous at 10-1.

In a strange sight, Starrer, without McCarron, eventually found a spot on the rail and completed the course, finishing ahead of the rest of the field. In the run for the first turn, she got in the way of several horses that were trying to establish positions.

Trainer Niall O’Callaghan said that two million-dollar races--the Arlington Million on Aug. 18 and Del Mar’s Pacific Classic the next day--are the options for Guided Tour after his four-length victory against A Fleets Dancer in the $400,000 Washington Park Handicap at Arlington Park.

The Million is a grass race, a surface that Guided Tour hasn’t run since early last year. O’Callaghan is stabled at Churchill Downs, but he has run Guided Tour twice at Santa Anita this year, winning the San Antonio Handicap and finishing fifth in the Santa Anita Handicap.

Zonk, a 29-1 longshot, won the $250,000 Delaware Oaks by a length over Mystic Lady. Caressing, the 7-5 favorite, ran seventh. . . . Count Ofthe Knight, a 4-year-old gelding, collapsed after being pulled up by Omar Berrio after the seventh race and died on the track. An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death.