Careless Jewel romps in Delaware Oaks

STANTON, Del. - During the summer, when she is based at Woodbine, trainer Josie Carroll rarely ventures to Delaware Park. But when she does, she means business.

Shipping to Delaware for the first time since she won the 1999 Delaware Oaks with Brushed Halory, Carroll took a shot at Saturday's with Careless Jewel ($22.80), a lightly raced filly who had just cleared her first allowance condition and had raced exclusively on Polytrack.

Careless Jewel handled dirt and stakes competition better than Carroll could have imagined in cruising to a wire-to-wire 7 1/4-length romp over the Todd Pletcher-trained Malibu Prayer. It was another 3 1/4 lengths back to Miss Unitednations, at 25-1 the longest shot in a field of six 3-year-old fillies.

The showdown between Bon Jovi Girl and Payton d'Oro, who had taken turns beating each other in the Susan's Girl and the Black-Eyed Susan, never developed. Bon Jovi Girl finished fourth as the 3-5 favorite, a length in front of 7-2 second choice Payton d'Oro.

Carroll said she was confident Careless Jewel could make the transition from the synthetic surface after watching her breeze on dirt last winter at the Palm Beach training center in Florida. She looked for an out-of-town stakes for Careless Jewel, a daughter of Tapit, after she drew off by more than seven lengths in her first two-turn assignment last month. Carroll brought along Careless Jewel's regular rider, Robert Landry.

"When we stretched her out, she took the lead, and when Rob let her loose, she just sprinted away," Carroll said. "We figured it was time to test her. At this time of year at Woodbine, the only stakes for fillies going long are for Canadian-breds. She was at the top of her game, so we brought her here."

Landry, who sat patiently in the jockeys' room for six races awaiting his first-ever mount at Delaware in his 29-year career, said it was a little surprising nobody else challenged Careless Jewel. She was on top by a half-length through six furlongs in 1:10.96, opened up by five lengths in midstretch, and was pulling away while completing 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.96, .57 of a second off the stakes record.

"Josie has a done a tremendous job with this filly," Landry said. "That's a pretty confident filly I was on. She's the real deal."

Livin Lovin, the 2-1 morning-line Oaks favorite, was an early scratch. Trainer Steve Klesaris confirmed she will run in next Saturday's Grade 1, $300,000 Coaching Club American Oaks at Belmont Park.

Motion wins Dick for sixth time

Trainer Graham Motion continued his mastery of the , winning the Grade 3, $200,000 turf race for fillies and mares for the sixth time since 1999 when Caprice ($17.20) rallied along the rail under Jeremy Rose to prevail by a neck over 13-1 longshot Trensa.

"Jeremy won this race," Motion said. "He gave her a great ride."

Rose said the key to the race was waiting for Ramon Dominguez, aboard pacesetter and 9-5 favorite Asrologie, to come a bit off the rail in the stretch.

"Usually in a turf race, if you wait long enough the rail will open," Rose said. "It wasn't much of an opening, but she went right on in."

Motion said the next logical spot for the 6-year-old Caprice, is another 1 3/8-mile turf stakes, the Glens Falls at Saratoga.

* Acting Zippy ($16), allowed to loaf uncontested through fractions of 50.83 seconds and 1:15.67 in a 1 1/16-mile race, collected his fourth stakes victory in less than three months by wiring five other older horses in the $100,000 R.R.M. Carpenter. Trained and co-owned by William Don Bennett, Acting Zippy finished three lengths in front of Researcher, the 3-5 favorite.