Del Mar: Hollendorfer horses run one-two in Yellow Ribbon

DEL MAR, Calif. – The meet didn’t start off very well for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, but he’s finishing with a flourish. On Monday at Del Mar, Hollendorfer ran one-two in the Grade 2, $250,000 Yellow Ribbon Handicap for older female turf horses, as Halo Dolly earned her first graded stakes win at the expense of stablemate City to City.

Halo Dolly ($13.60) got a clean trip outside horses, surged to contention entering the lane, and held on to win by 1 1/4 lengths over City to City, the 5-2 favorite  who ran into a roadblock at the top of the stretch and did not get free until it was too late. City to City nosed out Vivo Per Lei for third. Go Forth North was fourth and was followed, in order, by Camelia Rose, Byrony, Cosset, and Broken Dreams.

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All Star Heart, the morning-line favorite, was scratched in favor of a race later this month at Woodbine.

Halo Dolly completed 1 1/16 miles on firm turf in 1:40.52.

“The race isn’t over till the end,” Hollendorfer said of his summer at Del Mar. “But we’ve had some rocky moments.”

Halo Dolly, though, has been a model of consistency. The Yellow Ribbon was her 13th win in 22 starts, and her third in four lifetime starts at Del Mar. She won the Solana Beach Handicap against California-breds over this course just 15 days earlier.

Joe Talamo rode Halo Dolly, and earned his 11th stakes win of the meet. That puts him one back of Rafael Bejarano, whose 12 stakes wins have tied him for the single-season record held by four other riders. Both Talamo and Bejarano have mounts in all four stakes on closing day Wednesday, so both have a chance to break the record.

Earlier in the day, Native Treasure ($30.40) scored a front-running upset in the $150,000 I’m Smokin Stakes for 2-year-old California-breds. The Humancomplaint rallied for second, with Strong Wind third. Juan Hernandez rode the winner for trainer and co-owner Ed Moger Jr., both of whom scored their first Del Mar stakes wins. Native Treasure completed six furlongs on Polytrack in 1:09.69.

Renee’s Queen ($63.60), the longest shot in the field, just lasted over a fast-closing Shrilanka and favored Speedinthruthecity to prevail in a blanket finish in the inaugural $100,000 Oak Tree Juvenile Fillies Turf. Renee’s Queen, ridden by Agapito Delgadillo, was winless in three starts prior to Monday’s race. Eric Guillot trains her for GEM Racing. She was timed in 1:36.36 for one mile on firm turf.