Laura’s Light Wins Del Mar’s San Clemente As Heavy Favorite

Gary Barber's favored Laura's Light made the lead turning for home on the turf course, then held off the late charges of two rivals to tally by three-quarters of a length in Saturday's Grade 2, $150,000 San Clemente Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Del Mar near San Diego, Calif.

Laura's LIght's rider was Abel Cedillo, who wound up capturing three races on the afternoon's 11-race card, including the G2 San Diego Handicap aboard Maximum Security.

Laura's Light, a Kentucky-bred daughter of Constitution, covered the mile on the greensward in 1:34.16 and paid $4.40, $3.00 and $2.60 as the 6/5 favorite in the field of 10 runners. She earned $90,000 for the victory and now sports a bankroll of $304,370.

Trained by Peter Miller, Laura's Light was winning for the fifth time in seven career starts. She was coming off a hard-fought victory in the Honeymoon Stakes on turf at Santa Anita on May 30 — her second G3 win this year.

Both of the Grade 2 races run Saturday are considered key preps for Grade 1 races later in the meet – the $500,000 TVG Pacific Classic in the case of Maximum Security and the $250,000 Del Mar Oaks for Laura's Light. Each of those races will be run at Del Mar on August 22 as part of a five-stakes program and both winning trainers today gave indications that their charges would be pointed in that direction.

Earlier on the card in the $65,000 Smiling Tiger Overnight Stakes, MyRacehorse.com and Slam Dunk Racing's Vertical Threat outran three foes to score by five and a quarter lengths under Heriberto Figueroa.  The 3-year-old colt trained by Richard Baltas ran six furlongs in 1:10.47.

Racing resumes at Del Mar tomorrow with an 11-race card beginning at 2 p.m.

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