Astute gains attention with Desi Arnaz victory

DEL MAR, Calif. – Back before the summer meet started here at Del Mar, trainer Richard Mandella was going through his lineup of 2-year-olds, which looked to be fairly potent, and advised that he had a Speightstown filly who was scheduled to race late in the meet whom he called “a real runner.”

She got sick midway through that meet, delaying her debut until last month at Santa Anita. She won then, and on Saturday won a stakes race while walloping her competition. Safe to say, Mandella’s assessment was Astute.

Astute, a chestnut daughter of Speightstown, is a name to mark down - if you hadn’t already. She rolled to a 7 1/2-length victory Saturday in the $100,500 Desi Arnaz Stakes for 2-year-old fillies, looking every bit like one to follow closely in coming months.

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Astute ($12.20), a distant second choice to 1-2 favorite Private Mission, broke strongly from the gate and went right with Private Mission from the start, put away the favorite heading into the lane, and bounded clear under Mike Smith, who missed the Breeders’ Cup but has been making up for it with a strong start here.

Queengol nosed out Heels Up for second, as Private Mission faltered late and wound up fourth. Canoodling and Miss Costa Rica completed the order of finish. Plum Sexy and Varda were scratched.

Astute completed 6 1/2 furlongs on a fast but dull surface in 1:17.28. She is unbeaten in two starts, having defeated maidens in a turf sprint at Santa Anita Oct. 12.

“She was training well, and I had no question she’d do turf – she’s got enough breeding – and I didn’t want to take a chance that a dirt race wouldn’t go,” Mandella said.

So she’s won sprinting on turf, and sprinting on dirt. The next possibility for her will be to go two turns in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Starlet on Dec. 5. That would mean coming back in three weeks, something Mandella said he’d be contemplating in coming days.

“Will definitely look at it, just depends on how she comes out of the race,” Mandella said.

Astute was purchased as a yearling for $425,000 by Solis-Litt Bloodstock for the Roth family’s LNJ Foxwoods. She is out of the Langfuhr mare Discerning, whose progeny include two-time graded stakes winner Classic Point.

Before she ever came into Mandella’s barn, Alex Solis Jr. of Solis-Litt “told me she was special,” Mandella said. “And that’s kind of held true.”