Nothing Like You rallies to take the Desi Arnaz by a nose

DEL MAR, Calif. – Nothing Like You over-delivered Saturday at Del Mar.

A sprint race intended as a prep for a graded route instead became the 2-year-old filly’s first stakes victory. She will enter her late-season objective on a two-race win streak.

Nothing Like You ($11.40) scored an off-the-pace upset in the $100,000 Desi Arnaz Stakes, a seven-furlong sprint she won by a nose over Tambo while odds-on favorite Royal Slipper surrendered to finish third.

Bob Baffert trains Nothing Like You, who was using the Desi Arnaz as a prep for the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Starlet on Dec. 9. The filly entered the sprint stakes following a maiden route win last month at Santa Anita.

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“She needed two turns,” Baffert said, acknowledging the Desi Arnaz was one turn. “But it was seven-eighths. If it was six, I wouldn’t have done it. This will set her up perfectly for the Los Alamitos Starlet.”

Juan Hernandez rode Nothing Like You, who settled midfield while 2-5 favorite Royal Slipper set the pace under John Velazquez. When the favorite cleared, it looked like she might be gone. But Velazquez, who rode Royal Slipper in her sharp debut victory at Keeneland, suspected she was in trouble.

“She didn’t relax,” Velazquez said. “At Keeneland, she got to the lead, she got to relax. [Today] she got the front, but she was pulling. I knew it was going to be tough.”

Royal Slipper set fractions of :22.03 and :45.55, but turning for home put up little resistance as Tambo inherited the lead. Nothing Like You was rolling late and got up on the wire to win 1:23.03.

Baffert said Nothing Like You is a “really big, tall filly. She needed every bit of that seven-eighths to get up.” Sired by Malibu Moon, the win was her second straight after missing her first three starts in sprints.

Nothing Like You will enter the 1 1/16-mile Los Alamitos Starlet on a two-race win streak. Three of the last six Desi Arnaz winners won the Los Alamitos Starlet in their next start; all three trained by Baffert – Dream Tree, Chasing Yesterday, and Eda.

Nothing Like You is owned by Georgia Hunt, Jeff Giglio, and John Rogtiz.

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