Zedan Racing Stables' unbeaten Princess Noor stretched out to two turns for the first time in her third career starts, making short work of her four rivals in the Grade 2 Chandelier Stakes at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., on Saturday.
Ridden by Victor Espinoza, the Bob Baffert-trained daughter of freshman sire Not This Time won by 8 1/4 lengths, covering 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in 1:45.59 and paying $2.40 as the heavy favorite. Varda completed a Baffert-exacta, finishing second ahead of Miss Costa Rica, with Illumination fourth and Make Mischief trailing the field.
This was Baffert's 12th win in the Chandelier, formerly known as the Oak Leaf Stakes.
The Chandelier is a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series race, giving an automatic, fees-paid berth in the Juvenile Fillies to the winner.
Breaking from the rail, Espinoza allowed Princess Noor to settle in just behind another Baffert runner, Illumination, who took the field through early fractions of :23.51, :48.28 and 1:12.95 for the opening six furlongs.
Princess Noor shifted to the outside approaching the far turn, quickly put away Illumination on the turn for home and cruised to the wire in hand after a mile fractional time of 1:45.59.
Bred in Kentucky by International Equities Holding Inc., Princess Noor was purchased for $1,350,000 at the OBS April Sale of 2-year-olds in training earlier this year.
“The talent, the energy, the speed!” Espinoza said. “She dominated everyone with the energy she created during the race and I had a lot of confidence in her. Bob knows how to train his horses. She's really kind, and she doesn't need much. She does everything on her own, I'm just the pilot trying to find a way to have a little room to let her run and stretch her legs. It's so easy to ride these types of horses.
“It's my job to ride her with confidence, because I know she was the best filly in the race and I had to ride her like she was the best filly in the race.
“She reminds me of other great horses I used to ride like American Pharoah and California Chrome. The talent is there, we just have to let them be happy around the racetrack. I've been riding amazing horses, but as a filly, she's the best one I've ever ridden.
“It takes a team to have an amazing horse like this. It creates better energy when you have a good team. When all the team is happy and working together and pushing forward, things work out much better.”
Said Baffert: “I talked to Victor (Espinoza) before and I talked to all my riders I told them, 'Just ride your races'. When you are in the one hole they usually don't break as well but I think Victor rode her with a lot of confidence. He's been on enough good horses and he knows. He took his time and I saw the other filly (Illumination) go to the lead and they just rode their own race.
“I saw Victor get behind and I saw that nice move before the three-eighths and you can only do that when you have a Ferrari under you. Turning for home I was one-two-three and I thought, 'This is a nice feeling'. I was hoping the other one (Illumination) would have held on for third.
“This filly is just incredible and very talented. I don't train her as hard and I run her into shape. You never know if they can go two turns until they do it and it looks like that's not going to be a problem.
“This was perfect for her. If you don't have the clientele behind you its hard to get a filly like this but she was just a knock-out, she was something else.”
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