Teddy's Barino outduels Samurai Charm to wire in Tranquility Lake Stakes
DEL MAR, Calif. – Teddy’s Barino won her fourth straight race and her first stakes when outfinishing Samurai Charm through a spirited stretch duel to take the $119,000 Tranquility Lake, a restricted stakes for older females Monday at Del Mar.
Teddy’s Barino ($6), the second choice, benefitted from a heads-up ride by Mike Smith, who eased out of an early battle to secure an ideal staking position behind the leaders before he attacked the pacesetter, favored Samurai Charm.
Samurai Charm did not go quietly. It took nearly the length of the stretch for Teddy’s Barino to finally get past Samurai Charm and prevail by a head.
Samurai Charm was 10 1/4 lengths clear of third-place Velvet Slippers, then came, in order, Ever Smart, Lisette, Bye Bye Bertie, and La Castiglione.
Teddy’s Barino completed one mile on the fast main track in 1:35.59.
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“Mike gave her a great ride,” said Mark Glatt, who trains Teddy’s Barino for Red Baron’s Barn and Vaya Con Suerte. “He had to make a decision to go up or take back, and he made the right one. That was one of the races where both deserved to win. I’m glad we did.”
Teddy’s Barino’s win streak has coincided with Smith taking over as her rider. She won an allowance dirt sprint and a one-mile grass allowance – both restricted to California-breds – at Santa Anita earlier this year before an open first-level allowance win here Aug. 7 going a flat mile, the same distance as the Tranquility Lake.
Teddy’s Barino, 4, has now won five times in eight starts, and the $78,000 she made Monday increased her career earnings to $297,090.
She is a homebred by Grazen out of the Speightstown mare Miss Rebound.
“She continues to climb the ladder,” said Glatt, who said he’d look for a stakes restricted to California-breds, or even a graded stakes race, for Teddy’s Barino’s next start.