Four-year-old filly Dolce Zel (FR), making her first start in more than 11 months, overcame a gate incident just prior to the break and went on to tally by three-quarters of a length Saturday in the $85.100 Kathryn Crosby Stakes, the feature on the Veterans Day card at Del Mar.
Owned by the partnership of Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, Robert LaPenta, and Michael Caruso, Dolce Zel earned the $49,860 lion's share of purse in the overnight stakes, boosting her lifetime earnings to $381,515.
Dolce Zel – starting from post 5 with Flavien Prat – reacted when Gandora in post 6 broke through the gate early and ran off for a sixteenth of a mile. But though she, too, went through the gate early, Prat was able to snuggle her down and not let her go far.
Both fillies were reloaded and broke cleanly. While Dolce Zel went on to win, Gandora showed speed but backed up to finish sixth.
Running second in the mile turf test was Yerwanthere (IRE), who bested Nadette (FR) by a neck.
Dolce Zel, the 5-2 favorite, returned $7 to win after covering the grassy mile in 1:35.95.
The bay filly is by Zelzal out of the Dr Fong mare Dolce Attesa. She was bred by Scuderia Micolo Di Nicola Galli and C. SNC.
KATHRYN CROSBY QUOTES
JOCKEY FLAVIEN PRAT (Dolce Zel, winner) – “The horse next to me when through the gate early and my horse thought it was time to go. But we got back settled and everything went OK after that. When I squeezed her, she accelerated nicely.”
TRAINER PHIL D'AMATO (Dolce Zel, winner) – “That's the first time I've had a horse break through the gate and win. I give credit to Flavien (Prat) for catching her really quickly out of there. The six (horse) popped prematurely and caused our horse (to jump) but Flavien did a masterful job of saving her and giving her a beautiful ride after that. This is her first race in almost a year. She got the right spot here, and hopefully we can keep improving.”
FRACTIONS: :23.65 :48.31 1:12.82 1:24.65 1:35.95
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