And Tell Me Nolies targets longer-distance Chandelier Stakes

DEL MAR, Calif. - And Tell Me Nolies handled her stakes debut in Saturday’s Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante at seven furlongs in the manner of a filly who wants more ground.

That was the perspective of trainer Peter Miller, who will test the theory when And Tell Me Nolies starts in the Grade 2 Chandelier Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Oct. 8. The $200,000 Chandelier Stakes is a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at the same distance at Keeneland on Nov. 4.

“She wants to run,” Miller said on Sunday. “She’s very professional for a three-start runner.

“I think she wants more distance. We’re looking at the Chandelier. The way she galloped out and her pedigree suggest more distance.”

Owned by Peter Redekop, And Tell Me Nolies is by the late stallion Arrogate, who won the 2016 BC Classic at 1 1/4 miles, the year he was named champion 3-year-old male. And Tell Me Nolies is out of Be Fair, by Exchange Rate. Be Fair won the Grade 3 Lake George Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on dirt at Saratoga in 2009 and was later third behind the legendary Zenyatta in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap at the same distance at Oaklawn Park in 2010. The Lake George is typically run on turf, but was moved to the main track in 2009.

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In the $301,000 Debutante, And Tell Me Nolies ($21.60) closed from fifth to win by a head over 7-10 favorite Home Cooking, who led by three lengths with a furlong remaining.

And Tell Me Nolies has won 2 of 3 starts. She was fourth in her debut in a maiden special weight race on July 23 and won a similar race at 6 1/2 furlongs on Aug. 14.

Ramon Vazquez was aboard for all three wins and had his first win in a Grade 1 race in the Debutante.

Vazquez agreed with Miller that And Tell Me Nolies has potential in longer races.

“Even longer, she’ll be better,” he said on Sunday “I like the way she galloped out.”

For the 36-year-old Vazquez, the Debutante is his most valuable win since he relocated to California on a full-time basis in the spring. Vazquez was third in the standings at Del Mar through Saturday. He won the riding title at the Los Alamitos summer meeting in June and July and will ride there when that track begins a two-week September meeting on Friday.

The win came at a cost for Vazquez. On Sunday, he was cited by track stewards for using his whip seven times, one more than the limit, and was suspended for one day – on Sept. 18. Vazquez was fined $1,752, or 10 percent of his net earnings for the win, according to stewards.

Vazquez said on Sunday that he has committed to staying in California and is expected to contend for the riding title at the Santa Anita autumn meeting that begins on Sept. 30.