D'Amato grateful Street Fancy didn't meet reserve price in February

CYPRESS, Calif. - Street Fancy, the winner of the Grade 1 Starlet Stakes at Los Alamitos on Saturday, was one of the first hyped 2-year-olds of the year in California.

Back in February, prior to the Barretts Select sale of 2-year-olds in-training sale in Pomona, Street Fancy worked a furlong in 9.8 seconds. A few days later, she failed to sell when bidding stalled at $400,000.

Trainer Phil D’Amato recalled on Sunday that the reserve price was $419,000. When the filly failed to meet that price, she joined his stable.

“Luckily for me and the owner, she didn’t meet her reserve,” he said.

Street Fancy won the Starlet in her third start, closing from seventh in a field of nine to win by a length over the four-time stakes winner Stays in Vegas.

Owned by Mark Martinez’s Agave Racing Stable, Street Fancy, by Street Sense, will be pointed for the $300,000 Las Virgenes Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at a mile at Santa Anita on Feb. 6.

“The good thing is that Santa Anita is her home base,” D’Amato said. “We can give her time to settle and run out of her stall. She’s been to three different tracks in three races and that’s a lot for a 2-year-old to absorb. Each time, she was stepping up in company.

“She has a turn of foot on the dirt that you don’t see most horses have.”

Street Fancy has been temperamental before races. She was antsy before the Starlet, leading jockey Mike Smith to dismount during warm-ups. Such behavior has not occurred in her races.

“Mike said once the gates open, she’s as professional as can be,” D’Amato said. “Getting her there, she can get antsy. I brought her to Los Al a week early to school her and let her get used to her surroundings.”