Elloluv Doesn’t Lose Composure in Starlet

The last thing that trainer Craig Dollase said to Pat Valenzuela on Saturday as he gave him a leg up on the filly Elloluv in the Starlet Stakes was, “Don’t look at the odds.”

“I can’t read them, anyway,” said Valenzuela, who 10 minutes later was smiling with Dollase in the Hollywood Park winner’s circle after riding Elloluv, a 30-1 longshot, to the biggest upset in the 22-year history of the Starlet. Second to Elloluv in the $366,500 race was Composure, who at 1-5 odds was beaten by four lengths.

If a Grade I race ever looked like a slam-dunk, it was the Starlet. Composure was running for the first time since coming within a half-length of beating the undefeated Storm Flag Flying in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, and none of her six opponents had ever won a stakes race. Elloluv, who had broken her maiden about a month ago, went into the 1 1/16-mile race off only two starts.

“Realistically,” Dollase said, “we were looking for a stakes placing. But this filly had also been training awfully well and we were hoping that she might jump up and run a real big race.”

Owned by Dollase’s biggest client, J. Paul Reddam -- and named after the way Reddam’s wife Zillah greets friends with her English accent -- Elloluv was purchased for $120,000 after Dollase had picked her out of an auction of unraced 2-year-olds at Keeneland in April. Elloluv’s payoff of $63.60 broke the Starlet record of $52.60 that was set by Cheval Volant in 1989. Saturday’s time was 1:42 4/5.

Valenzuela, who had three victories Saturday, sent the filly to the lead out of the gate. Composure, who broke from the outside post under Mike Smith, moved third place after six furlongs, but never threatened.

With $752,000 of the $801,000 bet on Composure in the show pool, there was a shortage of $130,906, money Hollywood Park had to pay in order to give bettors the required nickel on a dollar.

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In the last jump, Piensa Sonando, under Laffit Pincay, beat Fleetstreet Dancer by a head in the $100,000 Native Diver Handicap to give owner Nelson Bunker Hunt his first stakes victory at Hollywood Park since 1987.