Stellar Wind wins Torrey Pines Stakes for fillies at Del Mar
DEL MAR, Calif. (AP) Stellar Wind won the $100,000 Torrey Pines Stakes for 3-year-old fillies by 4 1/4 lengths Sunday at Del Mar.
Ridden by Victor Espinoza, Stellar Wind ran a mile in 1:36.43 and paid $3, $2.20 and $2.10.
Big Book returned $3.20 and $2.40, while Rattataptap was another 3 1/4 lengths back in third and paid $2.40 to show.
Espinoza returned from Saratoga in upstate New York at midnight after riding Triple Crown champion American Pharoah to a second-place finish in the Travers. Before his day job began Sunday, Espinoza rehearsed for five hours to prepare for his upcoming appearance on ''Dancing With the Stars.''
''Pharoah came out of it fine and I'm looking forward to the next chapter with him,'' he said. ''It was so hard to get him there for the race - 12 hours to ship to Saratoga. He ran hard, he ran well.''
Stellar Wind is a daughter of Curlin, winner of the 2007 Preakness and Breeders' Cup Classic. She's trained by John Sadler, who won the race for the sixth time.
Since finishing fourth as the favorite in the Kentucky Oaks, Stellar Wind has rebounded to win the Summer Oaks at Santa Anita in June.
''She's classy; she showed that,'' Espinoza said. ''I changed her style a little bit. I wanted to keep my position going into that first turn, so I moved her up with the speed. She was comfortable there.''