INGLEWOOD, Calif. (Dec. 15, 2007) - Country Star lived up to her name while stamping herself as one of the premier fillies in the nation with an impressive 2 3/4-length victory under jockey Rafael Bejarano in Saturday's $431,500 Hollywood Starlet at Hollywood Park.
The 2-year-old daughter of 2003 Belmont Stakes winner Empire Maker looked like a horse with classic potential as she covered 1 1/16 miles in a Cushion Track record 1:40.54, easily shattering the stakes record of 1:41.80 set by champion Serena's Song in 1994.
Her performance stirred talk of next year's Kentucky Oaks, but Bejarano had other thoughts.
"Oaks? She's going to be the next Kentucky Derby winner," he said.
Country Star, who campaigns for Robert and Janice McNair's Stonerside Stable, won her second straight Grade I race in only her third start. Her first came as a maiden in the Alcibiades at Keeneland in October following a second in her career debut in September at Belmont Park.
Bejarano had Country Star comfortably placed in fifth in the field of nine 2-year-old fillies on the backstretch. She moved into contention while four-wide turning for home, gained the lead in mid-stretch and easily pulled clear.
"You can't even compare her win in Kentucky with this one," Bejarano said. "There's no comparison. She's so much better now. You can place this filly anywhere you want. I tried not to use her early and to get her to relax like last time. I just followed the speed and when I got her in the clear, she just exploded."
Country Star is conditioned by Hall of Fame member Bobby Frankel, also the trainer of Empire Maker.
"I was surprised she went so wide, but I guess he (Bejarano) didn't want to get in any trouble," Frankel said. "It looked like he asked her and she took off and then he was pulling her up at the end. She's great to be around, easy to train and she does everything one hundred percent. This one might be something special. We'll probably point to some races in May, I haven't made any plans yet."
Country Star, the second of consecutive winners on the card for Bejarano and Frankel, paid $4, $3 and $2.40 while banking $255,300 to boost her earnings to $575,900. Grace and Power, owned by celebrity chef Bobby Flay, shipped in from the East Coast to grab second under Michael Baze at odds of 13-1, paying $9.20 and $5.60. The Golden Noodle, another two lengths back in third with Julien Leparoux up, returned $4.80.
Baze was impressed with the runner-up, whom minor partner Flay purchased outright earlier in the week.
"When I asked her to run at the three-eighths, she just exploded so fast that I had to take her to the outside," he said. "She was rolling home, but the favorite was going faster."
