Del Mar: Truly Quality repeats in Hollywood Turf Cup
Truly Quality, the 2-1 favorite, defended his title as the best of 10 in the Grade 2, $200,000 Hollywood Turf Cup.
The 5-year-old Quality Road gelding settled in seventh under Mirco Demuro, about five lengths behind pacesetter Balladeer and Edwin Maldonado. With a half-mile remaining, Truly Quality advanced in the clear up the backstretch as Requist closed on Balladeer's lead. Three wide around the turn, Truly Quality gained the lead by a head over Requist and drew off to win by 1 3/4 lengths.
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"He's a one-pace horse, he stays, but if you go too soon, he stops when you get to the front," Demuro said. "If you go too late, he doesn't make it. With the position I had and the pace we went, thanks to Balladeer, I was able to make my move whenever. He is a clever horse, he knows what to do. When he came down the stretch he wanted to win the race."
A homebred for George Strawbridge's Augustin Stables, Truly Quality improved his record to 16: 6-4-3 with $630,495 in earnings for trainer Jonathan Thomas.
"He was very impressive today," Thomas said. "I thought Mirco did a very good job of getting after him early. He noticed the slow pace and was able to get him in a good spot down the backside. When he got there, I thought with his stamina that he'd really hang there. It was tough out on that post, no. 7 – he gave up some good ground around that first turn, but he got a really good ride."
Flashiest, supplemented into the Hollywood Turf Cup for Leonard Powell, raced between horses up the backstretch and steadied after getting bumped by Nineeleventurbo to his outside. He swung three wide turning for home and held second by a head over Nineeleventurbo and Antonio Fresu. Requist finished fourth, another head back.
Truly Quality returned $5.80, $4.60 and $3.00. Flashiest, ridden by Armando Ayuso, paid $24 and $9.20. Nineeleventurbo returned $3.60 to show.
Fractions went 24.56, 48.86, 1:14.24, 1:40.05 and 2:05.07 seconds, with a final time of 2:29.67.