Del Mar: Mrs. Astor defends her title in Red Carpet

Mrs. Astor defended her title in the $100,000 Red Carpet Stakes (G3), surging through a narrow opening in the stretch to win by a neck Saturday at Del Mar.

The 8-5 favorite, patiently handled by Umberto Rispoli, sat back on the rail in sixth as stablemate Will Then carved out the fractions. Juan Hernandez and Paradise Lake (3-1) raced to their outside, two lengths off the lead. 

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As the field came around the far turn for the second time, Will Then's lead diminished to a half-length as Public Assembly (4-1) and Antonio Fresu came up on his inside. Mrs. Astor took up the chase behind Public Assembly, found a seam between horses and surged through to win the 1 3/8-mile turf event. Paradise Lake finished another 1 1/2 lengths back in third, traveling four wide past the eighth pole to hold off a late charge by trainer Phil D'Amato's Sun Of Hill by a neck.

Mrs. Astor captured the Red Carpet Stakes in 2024 and now has three graded victories and five wins overall.

"We knew we'd get the rail trip and save ground," said trainer Jonathan Thomas. "You always hope that they will extricate themselves. There was enough horse there, you hoped for a little bit of an opening and it worked out like we hoped, and that's rare. She is so genuine, she shows up on anything we run her on."

A homebred for George Strawbridge's Augustin Stables, Mrs. Astor improved her record to 21: 7-5-4 with $567,235 in earnings. The 5-year-old mare returned $5.40, $3.80 and $2.60.

Public Assembly, trained by D'Amato, paid $4.00 and $2.80. Paradise Lake, trained by Peter Eurton, returned $3.00.

Fractions were 24.95, 49.89, 1:15.77, 1:41.58 and 2:06.79, with a final time of 2:18.86.