All Star Heart Wins Del Mar Grass Feature

Gerald Gibbs’ All Star Heart, the 6-5 favorite trained by Hall of Famer Ron McAnally, dashed through an opening along the rail in the stretch under Brice Blanc to outfinish Miss Mittagong and win the featured $70,000 U.S. Bank Purse Thursday at Del Mar.

All Star Heart, a Canadian-bred four-year-old daughter of Arch, was scoring her second straight victory since a bizarre incident at Santa Anita in early February when she lost her footing and fell turning for home in a mile and one-eighth contest on the grass.

Given five months off by McAnally to recover from the effects of that mishap, All Star Heart returned to action at Hollywood Park July 7 and was an impressive winner on the turf.

Outrun in the early stages of Thursday’s race, All Star Heart displayed her determination in winning by a half-length over Miss Mittagong, an 8-1 outsider piloted by Rafael Bejarano. Berg Bahn was third, a length behind the runner-up, with Fashion Trend fourth in the field of older fillies and mares.

All Star Heart ran the mile over the infield Jimmy Durante Turf Course in 1:34.16 and returned $4.60, $3.40 and $3 after recording her third success in a dozen starts. Miss Mittagong paid $6.40 and $4.40 while Berg Bahn returned $4.60 to show.

Joel Rosario, Del Mar’s defending riding champion who has experienced a slow start  this season, struck for a triple Thursday, winning the second and third races aboard Malusita and Sheskey, respectively, for owner Tricar Stable and trainer Sal Gonzalez,  and completing his three-bagger aboard Via Verde in the fifth.

Thursday’s attendance was 10,969.