The class hike from maiden to graded stakes is not too difficult, particularly the jump into the Grade 3 Jimmy Durante Stakes, a turf mile for 2-year-old fillies on Saturday at Del Mar.
The Durante has been run 11 times at Del Mar; seven winners entered off last-out maiden wins. The historical curiosity requires handicappers to reevaluate the element of class, which is always fluid when it comes to 2-year-olds and virtually irrelevant when it comes to the Durante.
An evenly matched field entered the Durante, which goes as race 7 on an action-packed 11-race card. The card includes the Grade 2 Seabiscuit, race 5, that features a showdown between Almendares and El Potente. The Grade 1 Hollywood Derby, race 9, includes low-odds standout Test Score. There are no standouts in the Durante.
While the 11-runner Durante lineup includes stakes-placed La Ville Lumiere, Hypergamy, and Sweet Little Lila, the field also includes five last-out maiden winners. None were more impressive than Latte Luv, trained by Doug O’Neill.
“She’s got some class, she’s got some speed,” O’Neill said. “Love the confident win she had last out, so hoping to capitalize off that. She’s a lovely filly who acts like she has a nice future.”
Latte Luv finished fifth in her debut in a dirt sprint won by subsequent graded winner Explora. Latte Luv, by Constitution, stretched to a mile on turf for her second start.
“She’s a two-turn-acting filly, and she’s got enough tactical speed that we figured she could put herself in the race in that setting. It worked out perfect,” O’Neill said.
Latte Luv set an honest pace and won by 2 1/2 lengths. Mirco Demuro is back on Latte Luv, who can win again if she can rate behind front-runner Bourbon and Ginger. O’Neill also entered Hypergamy, a stakes-placed last-out maiden winner who Latte Luv dusted two back.
A contested pace would benefit Yours Sincerely, who was blocked through the far turn last out when fourth in the Surfer Girl Stakes at Santa Anita. She lost by less than three lengths but could have made it a race with a better trip. Yours Sincerely has trained well since that Santa Anita race on Oct. 5, and she does like Del Mar.
“She broke her maiden here on the grass, and she had the bullet work on the grass” on Nov. 23, trainer Phil D’Amato said. “There should be some pace to run after, and we’ll take a swing.”
Umberto Rispoli rides Yours Sincerely.
Just Aloof won her debut at Aqueduct for trainer Chad Brown; she uncorked a 23.12-second final quarter-mile to defeat stablemate and favorite Market Hours. Just Aloof would be the second filly to win the Durante in her second career start; East Coast shipper Journey Home did it in 2016. Brown won the Durante in 2020 with Liguria, and 2022 with Fluffy Socks.
La Ville Lumiere drops in class and changes surfaces after finishing seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. She previously ran third in the Grade 2 Oak Leaf at Santa Anita and won a maiden sprint on turf this spring. Kazushi Kimura rides for trainer Michael McCarthy.
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