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Vacare summons all of her class in Palomar Jon and Sarah Kelly's VACARE (Lear Fan) held a significant class edge over her rivals in Saturday's $200,000 Palomar H. (G2), and the Christophe Clement mare had to dig deep into those reserves to prevail by a determined half-length. The 8-5 favorite bided her time near the tail of the field, rallied in the stretch under a vigorous Corey Nakatani drive, and eventually got the upper hand in a three-way struggle with Kris' Sis (Forestry) and Gotta Have Her (Royal Academy). Vacare rattled off 1 1/16 miles on Del Mar's firm turf in 1:40 3/5 and rewarded her supporters with mutuels of $5.20, $3 and $2.80. Kris' Sis and Gotta Have Her, who flanked Vacare and made her pull out all the stops in deep stretch, were inseparable to the photo-finish camera and dead-heated for runner-up honors. The 4-1 Kris' Sis paid $2.60 and $3.40, and the nearly 7-1 Gotta Have Her returned $3.40 and $4.40. The $1 exacta with Kris' Sis was worth $5.10, and with Gotta Have Her $7.80. The $1 trifecta and $1 superfecta with Kris' Sis in the runner-up spot totaled $23.70 and $187.10 (5-4-7-9), respectively. The $1 trifecta and $1 superfecta with Gotta Have Her in second paid $29.60 and $229.60 (5-7-4-9), respectively. Another 1 1/4 lengths back in fourth came Ainamaa (Lemon Drop Kid), followed by Zardana (Brz) (Crimson Tide); Moujane (Alphabet Soup); Ransom Captive (Red Ransom); America's Friend (Unusual Heat); Forest Melody (Forest Camp), who pressed the pace through an opening quarter in :23 4/5 and took command through fractions of :47 2/5 and 1:11 before fading in the stretch; and Live Life (Fr) (Linamix). The also-eligible Gula Gold (Mula Gula) failed to draw into the field. Vacare now sports a mark of 11-7-1-1 with $990,456 in her account. She began her career under the direction of Chris Block, capturing the Queen Elizabeth Invitational Challenge Cup (G1) and Pucker Up S. (G3) during her perfect 2006 campaign, when she went four-for-four. Sold to the Kellys for $2.8 million at the 2006 Fasig-Tipton November sale, Vacare was transferred to Clement. She captured her 2007 debut in the Magna Distaff S. at Gulfstream by a cozy length before suffering her first career loss when third in the Gamely S. (G1). After finishing a troubled second to Wait a While (Maria's Mon) in the Ballston Spa H. (G2), the bay concluded her season with a sharp half-length score over Precious Kitten (Catienus) in the First Lady S. (G2). Vacare turned in the worst efforts of her career in her first two starts of 2008, winding up eighth in the Just a Game S. (G1) and fourth in the Diana S. (G1), but rebounded here at Del Mar. Bred by Lothenbach Stables in Kentucky, the five-year-old is out of the winning Valid Appeal mare Appealing Storm. She has an unraced juvenile half-sister named Single Solution (Flatter) and a 2008 half-sister by Bernardini. Vacare hails from the same family as champion, $3.2-million earner and outstanding broodmare Serena's Song (Rahy).
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