Del Mar: Unzip Me rallies to win Daisycutter

DEL MAR, Calif. - Unzip Me closed from fifth midway on the turn to score a convincing win Friday’s $105,685 Daisycutter Handicap for female turf sprinters at Del Mar, the eighth stakes win of her 21-race career.

Sent off as the favorite, Unzip Me ($4.40) finished a half-length in front of pacesetter Separate Forest after trailing the leader by three lengths with a furlong remaining. Ridden by Rafael Bejarano, Unzip Me ran five furlongs in 55.60 seconds.

Separate Forest finished a half-length in front of Givine, whi was third in the field of seven.

Unzip Me carried top weight of 124 pounds, four to 13 pounds more than her rivals. Owned by a partnership of John Harris, Don Valpredo, Per Antonsen and trainer Marty Jones, Unzip Me has won 12 races and earned $812,228.

Unzip Me’s victory was her first since the Clocker’s Corner Handicap at Santa Anita in March which was followed by two losses – a second to Separate Forest in the Grade 3 Las Cienegas Handicap in April while carrying topweight of 127 pounds, and a second to Broken Dreams in an allowance race over six furlongs on turf at Hollywood Park last month. Broken Dreams finished fourth in the Daisycutter Handicap.

Jones said that Unzip Me could start in the $100,000 Sen. Ken Maddy Handicap at the Santa Anita Autumn meeting on Sept. 30.