Eight fillies and mares with graded stakes credentials are scheduled to enter the gate for the $200,000 Yellow Ribbon Stakes (gr. IIT) Sept. 6 at Del Mar, but only one in the full field of 12 is 3 years old and she may be the one to beat.
DP Racing's Prize Exhibit finished third last time out in the Del Mar Oaks (gr. IT), but won back-to-back graded events leading up to that with victories in the Senorita Stakes (gr. IIIT) and San Clemente Handicap (gr. IIT).
The rest of the graded winners in the field need to prove they can return to their top form.
The other multiple graded winners in the field, Istanford and Stormy Lucy, both have significant win droughts. Istanford hasn't finished better than ninth in a graded stakes since winning the San Clemente in 2014, and Stormy Lucy finished better than fourth just once since taking the Santa Barbara Handicap (gr. IIIT) and Santa Ana Stakes (gr. IIT) back-to-back last year.
Single graded winners Customer Base, Thegirlinthatsong, Blingismything, and Queen of The Sand are on similar winless streaks, but Queen of The Sand has been painfully close. Owned by Derrick Fisher and trained by Patrick Gallagher, Queen of the Sand has been a head and a neck back, respectively, in her last two starts, the John C. Mabee Stakes (gr. IIT) and the Royal Heroine Stakes (gr. IIT).
Graded winner Lady Pimpernel doesn't have an extended win drought, coming off a second-place finish in the Astra Stakes—which was preceded by her graded score in the Dec. 27 Robert J. Frankel Stakes (gr. IIIT)—but hasn't raced since the Astra Jan. 18.
Stakes winners Alexis Tangier and Notte d'Oro, as well as graded stakes-placed She's Not Here and Famous Alice, complete the field.
Del Mar, Sunday, September 06, 2015, Race 9Entries: Yellow Ribbon H. (G2T)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Customer Base (KY) Drayden Van Dyke 116 Thomas F. Proctor - 2 2Alexis Tangier (KY) Victor Espinoza 116 Richard E. Mandella - 3 3Lady Pimpernel (GB) Rafael Bejarano 118 Carla Gaines - 4 4Thegirlinthatsong (TX) Martin Garcia 118 Jerry Hollendorfer - 5 5Blingismything (KY) Tyler Baze 118 J. Eric Kruljac - 6 6Prize Exhibit (GB) Santiago Gonzalez 117 James M. Cassidy - 7 7Istanford (FL) Joseph Talamo 117 Michael Stidham - 8 8Queen of The Sand (IRE) James Graham 120 Patrick Gallagher - 9 9Notte d'Oro (KY) Flavien Prat 116 Michael Stidham - 10 10She's Not Here (KY) Mike E. Smith 117 Victoria H. Oliver - 98 11Stormy Lucy (KY) SCRATCHED 0 UNKNOWN - 11 12Famous Alice (KY) Gary L. Stevens 116 Tim Yakteen -
