The richest race of Los Alamitos’ Los Angeles County Fair Winter thoroughbred meet, the $300,000 Grade I Starlet, turned into a longshot player’s delight Saturday when the 3-5 favorite, Princess Noor, was pulled up early in the stretch by jockey Victor Espinoza.
Princess Noor, who won her first three races by a combined 17 1/4 lengths before a disappointing fifth-place finish in last month’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Keeneland, had just taken the lead and appeared to be cruising before Espinoza steered the 2-year-old Not This Time filly to the outside fence with an injury to her left front leg.
“She was running so easy,” trainer Bob Baffert said.
Princess Noor’s trouble, and the fact second-betting choice Astute (6-5) did not threaten in the stretch, paved the way for 17-1 longshot Varda to come charging home from last in the five-horse field and nail stablemate Kalypso (11-1) in the final stages, winning the 1 1/16-mile race by 1 1/2 lengths while covering the distance in 1:44.53.
The top two finishers, trained by Baffert, combined for an exacta payout of $193.80 for every two dollars wagered, but it was the Hall of Fame trainer’s third filly in the race, Princess Noor, who people were concerned about after the field crossed the finish.
Princess Noor walked into the horse ambulance under her own power and was transported to Baffert’s Los Alamitos barn, where she was examined by a veterinarian. Baffert said watching everything unfold was “very scary.”
“She looks comfortable now,” Baffert said about two hours after the race. “When she got back to the barn, she looked better. Her X-rays were clean, so that’s good. Her tendon had some inflammation, so I don’t know if she hit it or whatever, but we won’t know for a couple of days. We’ll scan it and do an ultrasound.
“She was walking well when she got off the trailer, so that’s very comforting. It was scary, but it’s not life-threatening or anything.”
Baffert said it was too early to know if Princess Noor will race again.
“We won’t know for a few days,” he said. “Before we make those calls, until you do the ultrasound, you won’t know how much time they need off.”
The victory was Baffert’s fourth consecutive in the Starlet, and Drayden Van Dyke has ridden all four winners. They won previously with Dream Team (2017), Chasing Yesterday (2018) and Bast (2019).
“(Varda) had been working really well and she looked like the kind of filly that the farther the better with her,” Baffert said. “That’s why we’ve been waiting and waiting with her.”
Varda finished second, beaten 8 1/4 lengths by Princess Noor, in the Grade II Chandelier Stakes at Santa Anita on Sept. 26. She’s now won two of three for earnings of $253,000, thanks to Saturday’s winner’s share of $180,000.
“She always tries hard,” said Van Dyke, who’s ridden the filly in all three races. “She broke well and we just waited. She needed every bit of that long stretch.”
Kalypso held second by four lengths over Nasreddine, a Michael McCarthy-trained filly who was supplemented to the race by her owners after her maiden victory at Del Mar on Nov. 7.
Asture, unbeaten in two starts before Saturday and a 7 1/2-length winner of the Desi Arnaz Stakes at Del Mar on Nov. 14 in her most recent outing, never threatened and finished fourth under Flavien Prat, who took over the mount when regular rider Mike Smith tested positive for COVID-19 and was forced to miss the opening weekend of Los Alamitos’ 11-day meet.
Los Alamitos resumes action Sunday, beginning at 12:30 p.m., with a nine-race program highlighted by the $100,000 Grade III Bayakoa Stakes for fillies and mares.
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