DEL MAR : While Stevens Is Away, Solis Makes Hay, Winning on Beyond Perfection

Gary Stevens wasn’t the only jockey who benefited from Golden Pheasant’s upset victory in the Arlington Million.

So did Alex Solis.

With Stevens busy providing Charlie Whittingham with his third Million success in Illinois, Solis inherited the mount on Beyond Perfection in the $290,400 Del Mar Debutante.

The way the 2-year-old Quack filly ran Sunday, Solis and agent Craig O’Bryan will also be happy to know it’s wasn’t a one-shot deal. Trainer Jack Van Berg said he will stick with Solis.

Almost three weeks after being beaten by 4 1/2 lengths by Lite Light in the seven-furlong Sorrento Stakes, Beyond Perfection turned things around in a big way.

Never looking like a loser at any stage, the 3-1 third choice took the lead from the start and at the end of her 1:34 4/5 mile had beaten Lite Light, the 9-5 favorite, by nine lengths. The final time was a Debutante record, eclipsing one-fifth a mark shared by Table Hands and last year’s winner, Rue De Palm.

Impressive in her July 15 debut at Hollywood Park, Beyond Perfection put up no resistance when challenged by Lite Light in the Sorrento. But when Lite Light made a mild run at her Sunday, Beyond Perfection found another gear. “She just ran away from me,” said Russell Baze, Lite Light’s jockey. “She didn’t put up that kind of defense last time. It was no contest today.”

Van Berg, who has found winners hard to come by in Southern California--the Debutante was his first victory in 23 starts at Del Mar--didn’t lose faith in the filly, a Kentucky-bred owned by John Franks.

“She got upset in her last race here, she was nervous and rank on the backside,” he said. “We took some time and schooled her. She gallops faster in the morning than most horses can run.

“The first time Gary Stevens rode her he said when this filly gets a route of ground she’ll be a top filly. Alex was never on her back before today. I told him what to do and he did everything perfect. This filly has shown as much as any I’ve had my hands on, maybe more.”

Purchased by Franks at the Barretts Sale in Pomona for $32,000 several months earlier, Beyond Perfection won’t be back to try the boys in the Del Mar Futurity a week from Wednesday.

“She’s going to get some time,” said Van Berg. “We’ll take her back to Hollywood Park and decide what’s next. We want to go to the Breeders’ Cup with her. The further she goes, the better she’ll be; she keeps loping along.”

Unsettled before the Sorrento, Beyond Perfection was a model of decorum Sunday.

“She went to the gate real quiet and was very calm,” said Solis. “(Van Berg) just told me to try to get her to relax and that she’d be tough.

“She just galloped around out there. She does everything right and she can really run. She has some kind of a stride on her.”

Title Bought, the 5-2 second choice, was third, 2 1/2 lengths behind Lite Light. Nice Assay was fourth, then came Alyfair, Gold Fleece and Brazen, who was some 24 lengths behind the winner.

Fly Till Dawn will try to repeat his Eddie Read Handicap upset when he takes on 11 rivals in today’s $300,000 Del Mar Handicap.

Against a field which is made up primarily of allowance horses, the 4-year-old Swing Till Dawn colt will be a lot shorter price than the 13-1 he was three weeks ago when beating Arlington Million winner Golden Pheasant, Classic Fame and five others in the Grade I Read.

Fly Till Dawn also doesn’t figure to get the same kind of easy lead he did Aug. 12--he went 48 3/5 and 1:12 2/5 en route to the 1:48 1/5 final time--because of Royal Reach, who has gone wire-to-wire in three of his last four turf starts. There’s also a distance question for Darrell Vienna’s gray colt. The Del Mar Handicap is 1 3/8 miles, a quarter mile longer than the Read.

Runner-up to Petite Ile in Hollywood Park’s Sunset Handicap, Live The Dream is the 118-pound highweight for trainer Charlie Whittingham. The Northern Baby colt has won five of 16 on turf, but his best work has come at Hollypark. Alex Solis rides Live The Dream, who worked a mile in 1:39 3/5 over the course nine days ago.

Horse Racing Notes

Golden Pheasant returned $14 at Del Mar for his Arlington Million victory, compared to $15.20 at Arlington Park. . . . Beyond Perfection’s victory was worth $110,000 to owner John Franks. . . . Supplemented for $10,000, Beyond Perfection was the fifth consecutive supplementary entrant to win the Debutante, joining Arewehavingfunyet, Brave Raj, Lost Kitty, Lea Lucinda and Rue De Palm. . . . Cee’s Tizzy was one of nine 3-year-olds entered in Wednesday’s $75,000-added El Cajon Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on the main track. A gray son of Relaunch, Cee’s Tizzy stretched out for the first time in an allowance race Aug. 19 and ran a mile in 1:33 2/5, winning by nearly three lengths under Eddie Delahoussaye. If he is a starter--trainer John Russell is also considering the Del Mar Budweiser Breeders’ Cup Sunday--Cee’s Tizzy will face Oh Wow, Warcraft, Prudent Leader, Hawaiian Pass, Asia, Shinko Wine, Toby Jug and Bel Air Paster.

ARLINGTON MILLION: Golden Pheasant scores victory for Gretzky, McNall and Whittingham. C18