Walther Solis returns as trainer with strong pair in Golden State Juvenile Fillies

A year and a half since last starting a horse under his name, trainer Walther Solis returns with a bang Friday at Del Mar, where he starts two fillies in the same $150,000 race.

Undefeated stakes winner Governor Goteven and maiden winner Will Take a Kiss give Solis two shots in the seven-furlong Golden State Juvenile Fillies. They are the first runners for Solis since April 2019, and the first start for Governor Goteven since her second stakes victory in August at Del Mar.

Lisa Bernard, who trained the 3-for-3 filly, was Solis’s assistant before Solis left training to manage Lovacres Ranch. He transferred his small stable to Bernard, but kept contact as Bernard’s adviser.

“I was behind her,” Solis said.

Governor Goteven won her debut for Bernard in May at Santa Anita and swept the California-bred juvenile filly stakes in summer at Del Mar, taking the CTBA and Generous Portion by open lengths. Then things changed.

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Bernard moved east to be with family, and Solis relinquished obligations at Lovacres to take over training 11 runners, including Governor Goteven. A large group of Lovacres juveniles for 2021 has Solis excited. Bernard plans to return as his assistant in December.

Solis, 58, began training in 2005 and won the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks with Willa B Awesome, along with multiple stakes by My Fiona and Charlie’s Moment.

Governor Goteven earned a late-summer respite from the track and relocated to Lovacres Ranch in Warner Springs, 40 miles northeast of Del Mar.

“I trained her in the morning and turned her out in the pasture every day, to let her just be a horse,” Solis said. “It helped her a lot, mentally.”

Linda Templeton bred and owns Governor Goteven, the leading progeny of Lovacres stallion Govenor Charlie. The filly resumed racetrack training at Santa Anita in October.

“She’s been working great, lights out,” Solis said. “I have faith in her, and the outside post – I love it.”

Governor Goteven breaks from post 10 under Tiago Pereira; Solis’s second starter breaks from post 6. Will Take a Kiss, co-owned and bred by Lovacres owner Terry Lovingier, won her second start for trainer Mike Harrington and also was transferred to Solis.

Will Take a Kiss, who scratched from the Generous Portion, resumed working in mid-October. She might need a start, having not raced since early August, though her style suggests seven furlongs is ideal.

“The distance, that’s what she’s been asking for,” Solis said. Tyler Baze is her rider.

Also in the field is Starlight Stroll, a half-sister to 2019 Golden State winner Been Studying Her. Love Wins, Eddie’s New Dream, Dylans Wild Cat, September Secret, Wishtheyallcouldbe, Super Game, and Okoye also entered.