Habibti Passes You to Win the Starlet

Habibti and You, a pair of fillies that disappointed their trainers in the Breeders’ Cup, were rivals again Sunday in the $365,000 Hollywood Starlet, a five-horse race that turned into a two-horse race that was much too close for Bob Baffert.

On atonement day, on the next-to-last card of the Hollywood Park meet, Habibti passed You with gusto at the top of the stretch, then almost squandered the lead in the final strides before winning by a head.

First place in the 11/16-mile Grade I race was worth $214,800, about $143,000 more than You, the 4-5 favorite, got for finishing second.

“If that mare had come back and got us, I would have had a bad Christmas,” said Baffert, who trains Habibti for the Saudi Arabian prince Ahmed Salman.

Later, on the cell phone with Richard Mulhall, who manages the prince’s Thoroughbred Corp., Baffert reviewed the race.

“It looked like she was going to win by 10,” Baffert said.

“But then the other horse kicked back in. That’s our Christmas gift.”

Tali’sluckybusride, after shadowing You in the early going, ran third, beaten by more than 81/2 lengths, with longshots Renaissance Woman and Talkeetna rounding out the order of finish. Ridden by Victor Espinoza, Habibti paid $6 as the second choice, completing the course in 1:43.

You, perhaps not 100% physically, was fourth as the odds-on favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Belmont Park on Oct. 27.

Habibti, who had missed her prep race, the Oak Leaf at Santa Anita, because of a virus, finished seventh at Belmont.

Habibti, winner of the Del Mar Debutante in August, has two Grade I wins on her record, but Tempera, whose only Grade I victory came in the Breeders’ Cup, is still expected to win the division’s Eclipse Award.

“Most of the voters make up their minds after the Breeders’ Cup,” Baffert said. “We were playing catch-up for that race, and when she drew the No. 1 post I knew we were in trouble. We could have packed up and gone home right there.”

Baffert has three entrants on today’s meet-ending card, but before the Starlet he had already broken Bob Hess Jr.’s 1992 record for wins during a Hollywood Park fall season. The Starlet gave Baffert 21 wins for the first 30 days of the meet.