Madone has perfect timing for Juvenile Fillies Turf

Madone won her debut in a maiden special weight race for 2-year-olds fillies on turf at a convenient time at Del Mar on Friday.

The previous day, track officials announced the restoration of the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf to the stakes schedule. The race had been eliminated from the calendar for the summer meeting earlier this year because of a purse reduction forced by the coronavirus outbreak.

Del Mar is not hosting spectators at the current meeting - only owners with horses entered to race that day can attend. Without an audience, Del Mar is unable to generate a significant amount of ontrack handle for purses.

Handle from account wagering sources was strong enough in the first two completed weeks of the meeting for officials to raise overnight purses 10 percent retroactive to opening day and restore the $75,000 Juvenile Fillies Turf, which will be run at a mile on Sept. 6.

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Madone, trained by Simon Callaghan for Kaleem Shah, closed from sixth in a field of nine to win the one-mile race by a length at 5-1 under jockey Flavien Prat. Madone, purchased for $125,000 at a 2-year-olds in training sale earlier this year, is by the Medaglia d’Oro stallion Vancouver, an Australian-bred who was a Group 1 winner in that country in 2015.

“We felt she would love the turf with her pedigree,” Callaghan said. “We thought she would be right there. I think it was a pretty decent race as well.”

The Juvenile Fillies Turf, which was run for $100,000 last year, may include Canoodling, who won a maiden special weight race at five furlongs on turf on Friday in her debut, closing from sixth in a field of seven.

Canoodling, a Pioneerof the Nile filly, was purchased for $180,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and races for B4 Farms and trainer Jeff Mullins.