Turbulent Descent makes taking the Moccasin look easy

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - It will be interesting to see how Turbulent Descent runs when she has to try. It has not happened yet.

She won a maiden special weight on Oct. 3 under a mild hand ride from jockey David Flores, who used the same style to guide Turbulent Descent to a convincing win in Sunday’s $100,000 Moccasin Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Hollywood Park.

“She did it easy and in a soft way,” Flores said. “Right now, we’ll keep it as easy as we can.”

The win will lead to a start in the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet Stakes over 1 1/16 miles on Dec. 11, trainer Mike Puype said.

In the Moccasin, Turbulent Descent ($3.40) finished 1 1/2 lengths in front of Zazu, running seven furlongs in 1:23.15. Turbulent Descent was part of a four-way battle for the lead, racing three-wide to the outside of Tales in Excess and Sugarinthemorning through early fractions of 22.93 and 46.08 seconds.

Tales in Excess and Sugarinthemorning faded from contention in early stretch when Flores guided Turbulent Descent to the front racing well off the rail.

“It looked like the pace was soft and I was in the perfect position,” Flores said.

Zazu, a maiden race winner in her second start on Oct. 15, finished 3 1/4 lengths clear of Tales in Excess, who was second in the Anoakia Stakes here last month.

After the race, trainer John Sadler wondered how Zazu could have done if she had not raced four-wide throughout.

“I would have preferred if she had a chance to save some ground,” Sadler said. “She was wide the whole way.”

Turbulent Descent, by Congrats, has earned $82,800 for a partnership. She was purchased for $160,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sale of 2-year-olds in-training in April.