More Complexity collared Sweet Marini with less than a sixteenth of a mile left and went on to win the $100,000 Betty Grable Stakes for older California-bred fillies and mares by a half-length Sunday at Del Mar.
Ridden by Mario Gutierrez, More Complexity ran seven furlongs in 1:22.51 and paid $9.20, $5.80 and $4.20 as the 7-2 second choice.
Sweet Marini returned $7 and $5.20, while Warren's Veneda was another nose back in third and paid $3.80 to show.
The victory, worth $57,000, increased More Complexity's career earnings to $214,970, with four wins in 10 starts.
More Complexity was mid-pack in the field of nine sprinters early in the race and responded gamely under Gutierrez.
''She's been off since September, only because we were pointing for this race,'' trainer Edward Freeman said. ''If we had gotten beat it would have been a silly idea, but now it looks all right. The whole race was a bit rough; she was never where I wanted her to be. But the good ones overcome it.''
Kieren Fallon, a 49-year-old six-time British riding champion who is competing for the first time at Del Mar, won for the first time with long-shot Colonel Joan in the seventh.
