Necessary Evil beats boys in Juvenile

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Take that, boys.

Necessary Evil, the only filly in a field of males, won her stakes debut in Sunday's at Hollywood Park, remaining unbeaten after two starts. The relative ease of the victory, a three-length win on the front, left her as the leader of California's 2-year-old filly division as the circuit moves to Del Mar on July 22.

Later on Sunday's program, Repo won the $98,000 Landaluce Stakes for 2-year-old fillies.

Necessary Evil ($4.40) ran six furlongs in 1:09.98, winning easily against Zip Quik. Classical Slew, who won the Willard Proctor Memorial Stakes at Hollywood Park on June 4, was second to Necessary Evil until early stretch but could not keep pace, holding third in a field of five.

Necessary Evil set early fractions of 22.36 and 45.73 seconds and was never threatened.

"She won nicely the first time, but I think she did even better today," jockey Joel Rosario said. "She's a very nice filly. At the top of the stretch, she changed leads perfectly. In fact, she does everything perfect."

Owned by Glencrest Farm and Dapple Stable and trained by Doug O'Neill, Necessary Evil beat maiden fillies by 3 3/4 lengths in her debut on May 31. A Harlan's Holiday filly, Necessary Evil has earned $87,600. She was bought back for $270,000 at the Barretts March sale of 2-year-olds in-training in March, and was withdrawn from the Barretts May sale of 2-year-olds in-training.

Repo led throughout the Landaluce, running six furlongs in 1:10.07. Ridden by Corey Nakatani, Repo set a moderate pace of 22.98 and 46.23 seconds, was briefly threatened by 7-10 favorite Well Deserved on the turn, but held off that rival to win by three-quarters of a length.

Ridemetothemoon finished third in the field of four, well clear of Champagne d'Oro. Ballistic Sue, Feeling Fancy, and Warren's Jitterbug were scratched.

Repo has won 2 of 3 starts and $106,170 for owner Paul Reddam and O'Neill. By In Excess, she beat statebred maidens in her debut on May 10 and was second to Well Deserved in the Cinderella Stakes on June 11.

Reddam said that Repo will be pointed for the $100,000 California Thoroughbred Breeders Association Stakes for statebred 2-year-old fillies at Del Mar on July 24.