Capital Plan gives Rosario winning send-off in Beverly Hills

Capital Plan gives Rosario winning send-off in Beverly

Hills

Easily moving up into second, Capital Plan was lapped onto the leader's flank

through splits of 1:15 3/5 and 1:40 1/5. The favorite was traveling better than

Quaintly as they headed for home, but just when she looked ready to go on by,

the pacesetter dug in. Meanwhile, Cambina, who wasn't too far off the crawl,

began her patented charge on the outside.

Capital Plan finally dueled Quaintly into submission, only to have Cambina

bearing down on her in turn. The winner kept responding to the new challenge,

though, and proved resolute in the waning yards. Capital Plan stopped the

teletimer in 2:04 1/5, and the hearts of her backers, before rewarding them with

payouts of $3.80, $2.40 and $2.10.

"I knew they were going really, really slow," Rosario recapped, "but she's

the kind of filly where you can't make your move too soon. I just tried to wait

for the right time so when I asked her to go she would have something left. And

that was exactly what happened. I wasn't 100 percent confident we would win at

the sixteenth-pole, but my filly was giving me everything she had. I want to

thank Jerry (Hollendorfer) for all the opportunities he's given me."

"It looks like (Rosario) should have been on the lead going that slow, but

it's going to help out in the long run," assistant trainer Dan Ward said of

Sunday's tactics. "In her previous races, she tried to pull the first part and

not relax. If you're going to be a good horse, you have to relax.

"She went :23 and change the last quarter, and when she won the Santa Barbara

she went :22 and change. If she can relax, she's going to be a better horse.

Everyone said you should win easy, but it's never that easy."

Jockey Garrett Gomez praised Cambina's effort in defeat.

"I put her in a drive early hoping that if I stayed on top of them, sooner or

later she would give me something," Gomez said. "She just kept fighting and

fighting. She was useful and willing the whole way. Hopefully, she'll continue

to step forward."

Cambina edged Quaintly by a half-length for second. It was a similar margin

back to Imperialistic Diva, who was stuck behind horses in a troubled fourth.

Camille C and a tailed-off Slane Castle rounded out the order of finish.

Capital Plan's second graded stakes coup improved her resume to 12-5-2-1,

$305,800. Originally campaigned by Glen Hill Farm and trained by Tom Proctor,

the June 1 foal didn't race at two. She broke her maiden over Del Mar's

Polytrack last summer in her third try, and then joined her present connections.

The bay cleared her first two allowance conditions last fall, winning on the

Santa Anita turf and the Hollywood Cushion Track, before disappointing when

fifth in the Grade 2 La Canada on the Santa Anita dirt January 22. Capital Plan

was subsequently second in a pair of allowances, a February 10 event on the

Tapeta at Golden Gate and a March 15 affair going a mile on the Santa Anita

course, before breaking through in the Santa Barbara.

Connections have high hopes for Capital Plan.

"The main thing is the Breeders' Cup (Filly & Mare Turf at Santa Anita

November 2), so we just have to get there," Ward said. "Maybe the (John C.)

Mabee (Grade 2 on August 12 at Del Mar) or the Beverly D. (Grade 1 on August 18

at Arlington) and then the prep during the Santa Anita (fall) meet. We want to

be at out peak for the big race."

Bred by Madeleine A. Pickens and Diamond A Racing Corp. in Kentucky, Capital

Plan was a $50,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase. She is out of the

unraced Strawberry Road mare Miss Dahlia, who is also the dam of Grade 2-placed

Skellytown and the granddam of Grade 2-placed Our Dahlia.

Miss Dahlia was produced by Hall of Famer Dahlia, a two-time English Horse of

the Year. Successful in the 1973 and 1974 runnings of the Group 1 King George VI

and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, the elegant chestnut also captured such major races

as the Group 1 Irish Oaks, Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary, Group 1 Grand Prix de

Saint-Cloud and two consecutive editions of the Group 1 Benson and Hedges Gold

Cup. Dahlia plundered four premier races in North America as well -- the Grade 1

Washington D.C. International, Grade 1 Man o' War and Grade 1 Hollywood

Invitational and the Grade 2 Canadian International.

Dahlia went on to become a stellar broodmare responsible for multiple Grade

1-winning millionaires Dahar and Rivlia; Grade 1 stars Delegant and Dahlia's

Dreamer; and Grade 2 winners Llandaff and Wajd, the latter the dam of Group 1 St

Leger hero Nedawi. Dahlia is the ancestress of Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup victor

Rite of Passage and New Zealand Group 1 scorer Mission Critical.

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