Dreamfyre. Ernie Belmonte/Pass The Wire
Winner Survives Stewards Inquiry Into Bumping In Stretch Run
Mike Willman/Santa Anita Press Box
ARCADIA, Calif.—Based for many years at Golden Gate Fields, trainer O.J. Jauregui is truly living the dream with his unbeaten filly Dreamfyre, who tried a new game in Sunday’s Grade III, $200,000 Surfer Girl Stakes at Santa Anita and emerged victorious, finishing first by a neck and then surviving a stewards inquiry into the stretch run. A winner of two sprint stakes on dirt, Dreamfyre tried turf and a route of ground today and was extra game under Hector Berrios, getting one mile on grass in gate to wire fashion in 1:37.11.
Sent to the front, Dreamfyre came under major pressure leaving the quarter pole as both eventual runner-up Buttercream Babe and highly regarded Soho drew alongside, but Dreamfyre was extra game, repelling both challenges as she engaged in a taut, head and battle to the wire with Buttercream Babe that included some bumping inside the furlong pole.
“There was a little bit of contact, but I always stayed in my lane,” said Berrios. “The other horse came very close on my outside and I think that was all that happened. They were just coming close together; I didn’t think that interfered with the result.”
Testimony from Berrios aside, the Board of Stewards, in a unanimous ruling, held that while the winner did drift out and make contact with Buttercream Babe, in their judgment, the contact did not merit a disqualification.
An ungraded stakes winner July 9 at Pleasanton, Dreamfyre was most recently a 3 ½ length winner going six furlongs of the Grade III Sorrento Stakes at Del Mar and was off today as the 9-5 favorite in a field of nine juvenile fillies, returning $5.80, $4.20 and $3.20.
Owned by Dan Eplin, Dreamfyre, a filly by the Scat Daddy stallion Flameaway out of the Sky Mesa mare Appreciating, sold for $140,000 at an Ocala, FLA 2-year-old in training sale this past April. With today’s winner’s share of $120,000, she increased her earnings to $285,000.
“The question was going to be the distance, as fast as she is,” said Jauregui. “She is very ratable, she let me do whatever I wanted in the mornings, so I knew there was a chance. Even though you work them, you think they could do it, but in a race, it is different.
“But she ran big and I’m glad she did. She should get a lot out of this and maybe after this race he could go a little further. That was the question, the distance and turf. The sire was a turf horse so I knew we had a shot. If she looks great, we will go and the Breeders’ Cup (Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 3 at Santa Anita) a shot.”
Trained by Mike Maker, Buttercream Babe shipped in from Kentucky and ran huge in defeat under Ramon Vazquez, who also lodged a rider’s claim of foul. Off at 5-1, she finished 1 ½ lengths in front of Flattery and paid $6.00 and $4.00.
Ridden by Juan Hernandez, Flattery, unbeaten in two previous tries at one mile on turf, was off at 4-1 and paid $3.00 to show while finishing three quarters of a length in front of Where’s My Ring.
Fractions on the race were 23.55, 48.59, 1:13.91 and 1:25.39.
Racing resumes with first post time for nine-race holiday program on Monday at 1 p.m. Admission gates open at 11 a.m.
