Wins don't come much prettier than this one for the aptly named Bella Vita, who took advantage of a fast track and an easy pace to take the Betty Grable Stakes at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.
In the Cal-bred only stakes, Big Sweep got out to an early lead, with Fi Fi Pharoah and favorite Bella Vita pressing the pace. Through early fractions of :23.20 for the first quarter and :46.17 for the half-mile, Big Sweep maintained a short lead, as Bella Vita moved up to second approaching the far turn.
Bella Vita and jockey Flavien Prat pulled even with Big Sweep on the turn, taking over the lead as the field entered the stretch. At the wire, Bella Vita was 1 1/2 lengths to the good, with Warren's Showtime making her bad late to take second over Big Sweep.
The final time for the seven furlongs was 1:22.23. Find this race's chart here.
Bella Vita paid $3.20, $2.20, and $2.10. Warren's Showtime paid $3.00 and $2.20. Big Sweep paid $2.40.
“We had a good trip. I got a good spot and we were able to move when it was right. She ran well and we finished up well,” Prat said after the race.
“Nice bookends to the weekend. (Callaghan-trained Astronomer was a $62.60 winner in Friday's $150,000 Qatar Golden Mile). The two horses ran well. This looked like a good opportunity (for Bella Vita) back on dirt. She's definitely a dirt filly. We tried turf last time because it was a restricted Cal-bred race but she shows she's a decent dirt filly and this was a good spot for her,” Simon Callaghan told the Del Mar press office after the Betty Grable.
Bred in California by Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings Inc., Bella Vita is by Bayern out of the Storm Cat mare Queenie Cat. Trained by Simon Callaghan, the 4-year-old filly is owned by Kaleem Shah Inc. Bella Vita was consigned by Harris Training Center and sold to KSI for $400,000 at the April 2019 Ocala Breeders' Sale Spring Sale of Two-Year-Olds In Training. With her win in the Betty Grable, the filly has three wins in nine starts in 2021, for a lifetime record of 13-4-5-1 and career earnings of $346,722.
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