Miss Monica much the best in Del Mar Debutante

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert notched a record-extending 13th victory in the Del Mar Debutante (G1) Saturday, as 2-5 favorite Miss Monica sauntered home. Stablemate Holmby checked in third to give the barn a one-three result in Del Mar’s signature race for juvenile fillies. 

The first stakes winner for her first-crop sire, 2022 Preakness (G1) hero Early Voting, Miss Monica also ranks as his top-selling two-year-old. The dark bay brought $850,000 at OBS April from the “Three Amigos,” the sales ticket moniker for longtime Baffert clients Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman. 

Miss Monica has rewarded their investment by going 2-for-2, with her career earnings of $240,000 paling in comparison to her value now. Her debut romp was achieved in front-running fashion on the rail here Aug. 9, and she displayed a different tactical dimension from post 8 in the Debutante.

With Juan Hernandez back aboard, Miss Monica was content to settle into stride just off the early pace battle. Fast Amy and Panda Listen alternated for the lead through fractions of :21.96 and :44.96, but by that point, Miss Monica was already hovering on the outside. 

As Fast Amy dropped back, Miss Monica overtook Panda Listen on her own volition rounding the far turn. Hernandez gave a quick over-the-shoulder look to spy for any competition, and let the favorite go on as she pleased. 

Miss Monica imposed her will at the top of the lane in the manner of a filly looking to stretch out. Hernandez wrapped up on her late, allowing her margin to contract to 6 1/4 lengths. Her final furlong took :13.06, resulting in a seven-furlong time in 1:23.54, but imagine what it would have been without the signal to decelerate. 

The 25-1 Crazy Hot Mess rallied to prevent a Baffert exacta, relegating Holmby to third. In the process, Crazy Hot Mess was overturning the form of the local prep, the Sorrento (G3). She had placed a distant third to Holmby that day, but the Peter Miller pupil benefitted from the extra ground on Saturday.

Free Closer was along for fourth, followed by Well Versed, Dear Diary, Panda Listen, Avalon Rose, and Fast Amy. For the Win was scratched.

“She broke OK,” Hernandez said of Miss Monica, “but those other two fillies were going fast up front. My filly was doing fine, and when I came up to those other two, we just went right on by. She changed leads for me, and when that happened, it was all over.”

“We had a great post,” Baffert said of being drawn toward the outside, “and she was able to put herself into a good spot. J.J. Hernandez rode her with a lot of confidence. We know going seven-eighths is demanding, but at the three-eighths pole you could tell she was cruising and she went to the lead on her own. 

“She’s that good of a filly. I’m always happy to win this race especially for the ‘Three Amigos’ – Pegram, Watson, and Weitman. I’m relieved. I knew she was going to win, but crazy things happen.”

Miss Monica is the second Del Mar Debutante winner for the Pegram/Watson/Weitman team, after Executiveprivilege nipped Hall of Famer Beholder in the 2012 edition. Other Baffert trainees on the honor roll are Batroyale (1995), Vivid Angel (1997), Excellent Meeting (1998), Chilukki (1999), Habibti (2001), Point Ashley (2006), Bast (2019), Princess Noor (2020), Grace Adler (2021), Tenma (2024), and Bottle of Rouge (2025).

Miss Monica’s dam, Lipstikliesnlovers, is herself by a Baffert great, Triple Crown champion American Pharoah. The juvenile’s second dam is Grade 3 winner Cherokee Queen, from the immediate family of Grade 1 star Domestic Product. 

Miss Monica was bred in Kentucky by Doug Branham, Felicia Branham, and Pippa’s Hurricane. She first toured the auction ring as a weanling at Keeneland November, where she RNA’d for $32,000. Hoppel picked her up for just $45,000 at the same venue as a September yearling, setting the stage for a spectacular pinhook at OBS.

Del Mar Juvenile Turf (G3)

Hernandez also took the other graded stakes on the card, the $101,500 Del Mar Juvenile Turf (G3), aboard the 6.70-1 Observed ($15.40).

Coming off a debut maiden score at Horseshoe Indianapolis, the Jonathan Thomas trainee was shuffled to the back early, but offered a terrific late rally to win cozily. Observed swept past 7-5 favorite Shadow Nation by three-quarters of a length in 1:36.40 for the firm-turf mile.

Off in the Corner, who appeared to have blown the race open with a four-length lead in midstretch, folded late for third. Hoaxer got up to round out the superfecta. 

Observed was giving his freshman sire, 2021 Kentucky Derby (G1) awardee Mandaloun, his first graded stakes winner. Now 2-for-2, he has $79,200 in his account. 

Co-owners Bridlewood Farm, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, and Robert LaPenta teamed up to purchase Observed for $245,000 as a Keeneland September yearling. A half-brother to 2022 Lecomte (G3) upsetter Call Me Midnight, the bay was bred by Hartwell Farm from an all-Juddmonte pedigree. 

Like sire Mandaloun, Observed’s dam – the First Defence mare Overseen – was a Juddmonte homebred herself. First Defence and Mandaloun’s broodmare sire, Empire Maker, were close relatives. As a result, Observed is inbred to their common heritage, Unbridled and Toussaud. 

Tranquility Lake S.

Also on Saturday, 7-5 favorite Magnificat overcame a stumbling start to win her two-turn debut in the $101,500 Tranquility Lake S. The Spendthrift Farm homebred went to her knees out of the gate and found herself last, farther behind than she’d ever been at the first call. 

But jockey Joel Rosario helped her to regain her composure, and Magnificat steadily improved her position on the inside. Turning into the stretch, the Richard Mandella filly had only pacesetting So There She Was to catch. 

Magnificat sustained her momentum down the lane, overhauled the weakening leader, and drew off by 2 1/2 lengths. Our Moonlight closed for second, while So There She Was gave way in a remote sixth of eight.

By finishing the mile in 1:38.03, Magnificat advanced her record to 9-5-2-1, $299,200. The Omaha Beach filly scored her first stakes win in the six-furlong Desert Stormer S. at Santa Anita, and she was most recently runner-up to three-peating Sweet Azteca in the Great Lady M (G2) at Los Alamitos. 

The well-named daughter of Canadian champion Holy Helena was bred to go a route. After all, that Ghostzapper mare beat males in the classic Queen’s Plate and stayed as far as 1 3/8 miles in the 2018 Sheepshead Bay (G2) at Belmont Park.