Bellafina will lose blinkers for Chandelier Stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. – Some races are downright ugly, such as last month’s Del Mar Debutante.

“I thought it was a [awful] race,” trainer Richard Baltas said. “I didn’t see any monsters in there. I didn’t see any Breeders’ Cup winners coming out of that race.”

Bellafina won the seven-furlong Debutante by open lengths, and is favored Saturday at Santa Anita in the Chandelier Stakes at 1 1/16 miles. But the blunt Debutante analysis by a rival trainer – Baltas entered the maiden Del Mar May in the Chandelier – is based on reality.

Bellafina was not impressive in the Debutante. She raced on her wrong lead, and staggered the final furlong in 14.75 seconds. It was not pretty, though it was her second stakes win.

But trainer Simon Callaghan scoffs. If Bellafina ran so badly, what does that say about the fillies she beat?

“I didn’t see anyone have any excuses in the race, and they went over the same track,” Callaghan noted.

Truth.

Bellafina stretches to two turns in Saturday’s Chandelier, facing five rivals including Debutante runner-up Mother Mother and Brill, whose fourth as the odds-on Debutante favorite still baffles trainer Jerry Hollendorfer.

What happened to Brill?

“I don’t know,” Hollendorfer said. “We cannot find anything on her physically at all. I think the track was dug up a lot more at the end of the meet. We’re hoping the reason she didn’t run well is because she didn’t like the way the track was. She came back and trained well.”

While the Debutante remains a mystery in hindsight, the Chandelier also offers questions. In particular, distance. Do any of the six juvenile fillies really want two turns? The favorites are Bellafina, Mother Mother, and Brill. The three others are maiden winners Der Lu and Vibrance, and stakes-placed maiden Del Mar May.

The $300,000 Chandelier is a Breeders’ Cup Challenge race offering the winner a fees-paid berth in the BC Juvenile Fillies on Nov. 2 at Churchill Downs.

The issue of distance is not the only Chandelier question. There are lots of changes.

Bellafina will take blinkers off, while Mother Mother puts blinkers on. Brill has a new jockey – the circuit’s leading rider Drayden Van Dyke was replaced by Midwest-based Florent Geroux. Del Mar May and Der Lu race for the first time in two months. Vibrance will face winners for the first time.

The equipment change for Bellafina is bold, considering she won two stakes with blinkers. They went on after she lost her debut.

“In her first race she kind of looked around a little bit, and in her gallops in the morning she always looks around,” Callaghan said. “We just felt there was more in there.”

Blinkers woke up the speedy Bellafina. Now, she must ration her speed.

“Now she’s had three runs, she really knows how to race,” Callaghan said. “We breezed her back since her win, with blinkers off, and we’ve seen good focus. We’ve been training her to sit off horses, and she does that really well.”

Del Mar May, second to Brill in a maiden race and second to Bellafina in the Sorrento, enters the Chandelier following a two-month respite, having skipped the Debutante.

“It would have been three races in a meet,” Baltas said. “I wanted to wait and see what happened in the Debutante.”

Can she run long?

“I think she’ll love it,” Baltas said. “She’s not overly aggressive, you can put her where you want in her works, she’s really relaxed, and she finishes well. Whether she is good enough, we’ll have to see.”

KEY CONTENDERS

Bellafina, by Quality Road
Last 3 Beyers: 75-94-80

◗ Flavien Prat rides Bellafina, whose outside post provides the option of pressing the pace while racing in the clear. Bellafina did not switch leads in either of her two wins.

Brill, by Medaglia d’Oro
Beyers: 59-88

◗ The rider change to Geroux was a decision made by Brill’s owner, Larry Best. Geroux also rides Best-owned Rowayton on Saturday in the Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes.

Del Mar May, by Jimmy Creed
Beyers: 84-85

◗ New rider Gary Stevens has worked her.

◗ Del Mar May would be the first maiden to win the Chandelier (previously the Oak Leaf) since 1991. Pleasant Stage won the 1991 Chandelier, followed by a victory in the BC Juvenile Fillies at Churchill Downs.

Mother Mother, by Pioneeerof the Nile
Beyers: 67-87

◗ The likely pacesetter from the inside post under Mike Smith, Mother Mother adds blinkers for “focus,” according to trainer Bob Baffert, who has won the Chandelier 10 times in the last 21 years.

Der Lu, by Orb
Beyer: 83

◗ Van Dyke rides the second Baffert entrant.

◗ A maiden sprint winner first out, Der Lu is bred to route. She was sired by a Kentucky Derby winner, and her dam is a sibling to Grade 1 winner Creative Cause and Grade 2 winner Destin.

Vibrance, by Violence
Beyers: 75-56

◗ Fourth at a mile on turf in her debut, she switched to dirt second time out and won the mile race by more than five lengths. Joel Rosario rides for trainer Michael McCarthy.