Berrios-Polanco-Blue Stripe a winning combo in Clement Hirsch

DEL MAR, Calif. – In the summer of 2011, a Chilean phenom rider showed up briefly at Del Mar and made the acquaintance of a trainer from Chile. At the time, trainer Marcelo Polanco, admits, he didn’t have horses good enough to put Hector Berrios on, but they kept in touch over the years, when Berrios returned to Chile, and most recently when he rode in Florida.

This summer, Berrios relocated to Southern California. Concurrently, the stock in Polanco’s small barn has improved, courtesy of classy South American imports. Polanco on Saturday put Berrios on one of them, the Argentine mare Blue Stripe, for the first time in a race, and they joined forces to win the Grade 1, $400,000 Clement Hirsch Stakes and a fees-paid berth in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Keeneland.

“I don’t know where I am,” a dazed Polanco said exiting the winner’s circle.

They’re not in Kansas, but this summer, Berrios has been the Wizard of Ahs. His dazzling riding has impressed locals beyond Polanco, with whom he’s already won two stakes races the first 10 days of the meet. He’s shined on turf, where he is cognizant of saving ground, and he gave Blue Stripe an equally flawless ride on dirt in the 1 1/16-mile Hirsch, the championship race of the meet for older females.

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Blue Stripe ($12.60), third in the five-horse field during the early going, attacked the leaders on the far turn, took over in upper stretch, and held safe Desert Dawn for a 1 3/4-length victory.

Desert Dawn, the only 3-year-old in the field, fired but was second-best, finishing a head in front of Shedaresthedevil, who was favored at 4-5 while attempting repeat wins in the Hirsch.

“No excuse,” said her rider, Florent Geroux. “Great trip, just got outrun.”

Soothsay was another 17 1/4 lengths back in fourth, and Private Mission trailed.

Lisette and Samurai Charm were scratched.

Blue Stripe completed 1 1/16 miles on the fast main track in 1:42.97.

Blue Stripe “broke good,” Berrios said, then “at the half-mile pole we made a little move.

“She was strong,” he said.

Polanco and Berrios won the Wickerr opening week with Irideo, like Blue Stripe a South American import owned by the Pozo de Luna of Jose Cerillo. That victory was the impetus to put Berrios on Blue Stripe, who was 1 for 3 in this country for Polanco.

Blue Stripe was thrown into an impossible spot in her North American debut, the Breeders’ Cup Distaff last fall, for her first start in six months. Given a lengthy freshening after that by Polanco, she won the Grade 2 Santa Margarita at Santa Anita in April and on June 18 was second in the Grade 2 Santa Maria.

The Hirsch was the sixth win in 10 starts for Blue Stripe, who won four times, including in a Group 2 stakes race, in Argentina before being imported. Now age 5, she is by Equal Stripes out of the Not For Sale mare Blues for Sale, and the $240,000 she earned in the Hirsch was more than the $221,882 she’d made in her nine prior starts combined.