Golden Gate Fields: Marks Mine outruns heavy favorite in Debutante

Vassar Photography

Marks Mine, ridden by Abel Cedillo, is well clear of favorite Ciao Bella Luna in the Golden Gate Debutante.

ALBANY, Calif. – Marks Mine turned the tables on odds-on favorite Ciao Bella Luna as she scored a 11/4-length  victory in the $60,550 Golden Gate Debutante at Golden Gate Fields on Saturday.

Marks Mine ($12.20) was run down by Ciao Bella Luna and defeated by two lengths in an Oct. 25 prep race, but  proved superior in the rematch.

She broke sharply and settled nicely after grabbing the lead from French Alps.  Marks Mine, a daughter of Benchmark trained by Steve Specht,  ran a 22.73-second opening quarter and matched that time through the second quarter with French Alps a length off her.

“Steve told me to go and not look back,” said winning jockey Abel Cedillo. “I wanted to go in 22 and change or 23, and she was relaxed and going easy.”

Ciao Bella Luna made her patented move into the stretch, shifting three wide for a clear path but was never able to make much impact on the winner, whose final time in the six-furlong stakes for 2-year-old fillies was 1:09.78. Debut winner My Lil Shamrock, a stablemate of the winner, was third another 3 1/4 lengths back.

“When there’s water on this track, it tends to favor speed,” said Specht. “The last time, the favorite only ran her down in the final 100 yards, and my filly had been off since Santa Rosa.”

Marks Mine, owned and bred by Larry and Marianne Williams, earned $39,350 for her second career win and increased her career earnings to $76,530.