DEL MAR : Favored Flawlessly Wins the Oaks, Stays Unbeaten in Four Turf Races

Someday Flawlessly is actually going to be tested in a turf race.

The way the 3-year-old Affirmed filly is going now, that day won’t be any time soon. She is now perfect in four starts on the grass.

In defeating Seattle Symphony, Fowda and three others in Sunday’s $175,000 Del Mar Oaks, the 7-10 favorite didn’t even have to take a deep breath.

The margin of victory was two lengths, but Chris McCarron never had to ask her to run en route to trainer Charlie Whittingham’s eighth Oaks victory.

Although she wasn’t a slouch on dirt back east, winning two of seven starts, Flawlessly is superb on grass. And after bleeding problems in New York, she has been able to show her best in California while racing on Lasix.

McCarron never had any worries Sunday.

“I knew she was a winner the whole way,” he said after Flawlessly completed the 1 1/8 miles in 1:49 2/5.

“I hate to compare horses I’ve ridden before, but I’d say she’s a good replacement for any of the grass fillies Charlie has had in the past.

“She’s certainly moving up the ladder the right way. She wins each race easier than the race before, and that’s a terrific sign. Plus she’s such a pleasure to ride. She does everything you want her to do.”

Whittingham, whose earlier Oaks winners included Hidden Light, Castilla and Turkish Trousers, thinks Flawlessly belongs with some of the female stars he has trained.

“She might be one of the good ones,” he said. “She does everything right. She has so much ability that if she gets in trouble, she can get herself out of it and go at any time.

“Chris said he never had to use her at all. We’ll go on to Oak Tree with her now and face older horses from now on.”

Seattle Symphony, who had won three consecutive starts in nine months, beat 4-1 second choice Fowda by a half-length for second place. The Seattle Slew filly set slow fractions (24, 48 2/5 and 1:13 1/5 for six furlongs), but was no match for the winner.

“She ran well,” jockey Corey Nakatani said of the 8-1 runner-up. “She dug in again and tried when the winner went by. She gave it her best. She’s a nervous filly and Gary (Jones) has done a good job training her. I’m real happy with how she ran here.”

Fowda, who was running on grass for the first time, had won the Hollywood Oaks and the Monmouth Oaks.

“She handled the grass OK,” jockey Eddie Delahoussaye said. “When I was sitting on her, she was rolling along fine. But when I asked her for some run, she got to bobbling and floundering a bit. She might go better on a firmer turf course . . . she might like Santa Anita or Hollywood better. But we know she likes the dirt. We’ve got lots of options with her.”

Slip With Me, a French import and the longest shot in the field at 12-1, was fourth, then came Gold Fleece and Joli’s Princess.

Trainer Bobby Frankel’s Joli’s Princess ran last in the Oaks, but his Louis Cyphre was an easy winner of the $291,000 Rainier Mile at Longacres Park in Renton, Wash.

Ridden by Gary Stevens, the 5-year-old Niniski horse circled the field around the turn and won by 4 1/2 lengths in 1:36 for the mile.

Captain Condo was second, 1 1/2 lengths ahead of 35-1 shot Ever Steady. Southern California’s other entrant, Trebizond, was fifth under Kent Desormeaux as the second betting choice.

Louis Cyphre, winning his third stakes of the year, paid $4.40 at Del Mar, where the race was simulcast, and $3.40 at Longacres.

Classy Women, who suffered her first defeat after two victories in Saratoga’s Test Stakes on July 27, heads the field in today’s $60,000 Sandy Blue Stakes at one mile on turf.

The 3-year-old Relaunch filly will be trying two turns for the first time in the Sandy Blue, but she already has shown she can handle turf. She set a world record for 5 1/2 furlongs when she won in 1:01 July 6 at Hollywood Park.

Pat Valenzuela will ride Classy Women for trainer Darrell Vienna. The rest of the field includes Miss High Blade, Shy Trick, Zama Hummer, Title Bought, Second Copy and Exchange.

Horse Racing Notes

Lite Light, who was to be shipped to Del Mar Sunday night from Bay Meadows, worked a mile in 1:38 4/5 Saturday morning. She will make her next start in Sunday’s Chula Vista Handicap. . . . Luis Ortega will begin a five-day suspension Wednesday for an incident in the fourth race Aug. 23. . . . Laffit Pincay Jr. had three victories and Corey Nakatani had two Sunday. . . . Navajo Pass, the $2.1-million yearling and full sister to Terlingua and Pancho Villa, was third as the 1-2 favorite in Sunday’s sixth race. Trainer Wayne Lukas had criticized Nakatani’s ride when the 2-year-old filly was beaten at 7-10 in her debut July 27, saying the jockey moved prematurely, but Navajo Pass didn’t have any apparent excuses Sunday.