Dress To Thrill Does Just That

After a recent international hopscotch that had taken her about 15,000 miles, Dress To Thrill wasn’t going to let another 40 yards get in the way.

Bearing down on horses that had run better than she did in a different Breeders’ Cup race in late October, Dress To Thrill and jockey Patrick Smullen came from off the pace on the outside to beat Golden Apples by a head in Sunday’s $500,000 Matriarch at Hollywood Park.

Golden Apples, third in last year’s Matriarch, had disposed of favored Banks Hill in the stretch, but couldn’t repel the Irish filly’s late charge.

Although Dress To Thrill, completing 1 1/8 miles in 1:48 1/5 on a damp course listed as firm, paid $16.60 as the fourth choice in a six-horse field, she was no surprise for trainer Dermot Weld. He had thrown out the 3-year-old filly’s eighth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Arlington Park.

“She delivered the goods today,” said the 54-year-old Weld, who has won more races than any trainer in Ireland. “The Breeders’ Cup was not a true reflection of her ability. The turf [at Arlington] was very soft, and this is a mare who prefers firmer ground.”

Golden Apples, favored in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf, ran fourth at Arlington, the first time she hadn’t been first or second in a race this year. Banks Hill, second to Starine in the Filly & Mare, was edged for third by Magic Mission on Sunday and was almost two lengths back of Dress To Thrill. After the Matriarch, trainer Ben Cecil felt that his Golden Apples still deserved the Eclipse Award for best turf distaffer. The Breeders’ Cup was Starine’s only win of the year.

After the Breeders’ Cup, Dress To Thrill was sent back to Weld’s stable in Ireland, a trip that required a plane out of Chicago, a six-hour van ride through England and a ferry across the Irish Sea. Dress To Thrill’s return to the U.S. was a bit easier, if not farther: She was flown from Dublin to Los Angeles, with a 36-hour stopover in Amsterdam, and arrived at Hollywood Park a week before the Matriarch.

“There’s no magic secret about the travel,” said Weld, who has won races on four continents and shipped Media Puzzle all the way to Australia for a win in the Melbourne Cup a month ago. “You have to have the horse physically and mentally right, and you need a good staff. [Dress To Thrill] shipped better for this race than she did for the Breeders’ Cup.”

Dress To Thrill’s win, worth $300,000, was her sixth in nine starts. Weld still rates his 1990 Belmont Stakes win, with longshot Go And Go, as one of the high-water marks of a distinguished career. Walter Haefner, 91, who bred and raced Go And Go, bred and owns Dress To Kill, and he also bred Media Puzzle. Dress To Kill may get a chance to settle down next year, with trainer Christophe Clement in New York.

Trainer Bobby Frankel, who had to scratch Tates Creek from the race, blamed himself for entrymate Banks Hill’s defeat.

“I gave bad instructions [to jockey Jerry Bailey],” Frankel said. “I was wrong when I thought there wouldn’t be any [early] pace.”

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Only one favorite -- Good Journey in the Citation Handicap -- won during Hollywood Park’s three-day, six-stake turf festival. The fifth non-favored winner came Sunday, when Johar, at 9-2, beat Mananan McLir by 1 1/2 lengths as favored Century City finished next to last in the $500,000 Hollywood Derby.

Johar, bred and owned by the Thorougbred Corp., gave jockey Alex Solis his third and trainer Richard Mandella his first Hollywood Derby win.

“A lot of horses might have been upset by [getting squeezed between horses] at the start, but he didn’t care,” Solis said. “Right away, he got back in the race. Actually, he wanted to go, but I had to take hold of him. He had already broken bad, so I was just saving.”

After breaking his maiden and winning an allowance at Santa Anita early in the year, Johar had some good but non-winning efforts in five stakes before he won the Oak Tree Derby on Oct. 13.