No Turf Battles for Harriett Lane

Moving to turf has been the key to success for Harriett Lane.

A daughter of Giant’s Causeway, she wasn’t close in the first two starts of her career on the main track at Del Mar last summer. She finished seventh and sixth, beaten a combined 26 3/4 lengths.

Since switching surfaces for trainer Ted H. West, Harriett Lane has not finished worse than third in six races and became a stakes winner Sunday, taking the $109,450 La Habra on Sunday at Santa Anita.

Owned by country music star Toby Keith and Susan Magnier, Harriett Lane, the 13-10 favorite, won her third in a row on grass, beating Bettarun Fast and five others. This was the second turf stakes win of the weekend for Kent Desormeaux, who guided Milk It Mick to a 12-1 upset in the $300,000 Kilroe Mile on Saturday.

In winning by 1 1/4 lengths, Harriett Lane completed the about 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:13.97.

“Seeing how different she is in the morning from turf to dirt, I now know why she didn’t run very well on dirt the first couple of times,” said West. “She’s a very mediocre work horse on dirt and she works super on the turf.”

Later in the day, El Mirage Queen, a 16-1 shot, wore down pacesetter and 7-2 second choice Candy Jo to win the $83,050 Tapestry Stakes.

This was the second victory in three starts for the 3-year-old Gilded Time filly, who is owned by trainer Moon Han. El Mirage Queen ran the six furlongs in 1:09.45 under jockey Victor Espinoza while winning by a head. Private World, the 6-5 favorite, was fourth.

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Racing on Lasix for the first time, Teammate, a 5-1 shot, rolled to a six-length win over Wonder Lady Anne L and five other 3-year-old fillies in the $150,000 Bonnie Miss Stakes on Sunday at Gulfstream Park.

Trained by Allen Jerkens for owner-breeder Joseph Allen, the gray daughter of A.P. Indy ran the 1 1/8 miles in the Grade II in 1:48.25 under jockey Cornelio Velasquez. It was the second win in seven starts for Teammate. Wait a While, the 11-10 favorite, finished third.

Two races later, 18-1 shot Miraculous Miss rallied from last to win the $150,000 Forward Gal/Stonerside Stakes. Jeremy Rose rode the 3-year-old Mr. Greeley filly for trainer Steve Klesaris.