Fatale Bere Totally Choka In $100,000 Surfer Girl

ARCADIA, CA – The French-bred Fatale Bere overcame a slow beginning in her first American start to rally late and nose out a victory in Monday’s $100,000 Surfer Girl Stakes at Santa Anita.

Off a step behind from post 11 under Kent Desormeaux, Fatale Bere angled in and chased along the inside early while Klosters and Medaglia Gold took turns setting splits of :22.28, :46.35, and 1:10.73. Hitting the stretch five-wide, Fatale Bere split between the leading trio, took a short lead in deep stretch, and held on gamely to prevail by a nose over Moon Dash in a final time of 1:34.73 for the mile-long turf event.

“I might have to give this surfboard to the team,” said Desormeaux, holding the custom-painted model given as a trophy for the winner. “They invited me to come over to the barn to see this new filly that arrived and they said that I should ask the owners to ride this horse. I’ve been high on her and this filly can really run. It was a real horse race from the 1/4-pole home and she just wouldn’t let that other filly by her.”

Retro rallied late to take third by a 1/2-length over One Fast Broad, who was a head in front of a fading Medaglia Gold. Yesterday’s News, Multiplayer, Deep Breath, Miss Puddles, Cute Knows Cute, Klosters, and Holy Diver completed the order of finish. Goodthingstaketime and Breezy Bee were scratched as also-eligibles.

The win was the second surf-themed stakes win of the day for Desormeaux, who took the $100,000 Zuma Beach earlier on the card aboard My Boy Jack. Owned by the Benowitz Family Trust, Mark Mathiesen, and Mathilde Powell, Fatale Bere improved her record to 4-3-0-1. The 2-year-old daughter of Pedro the Great increased her career earnings to $92,274 after taking home $60,000 for the win.

“She ran her first two races at ‘B’ tracks in France, but the horses that she faced all came back and ran really well,” said winning trainer Leonard Powell. “I studied her videos and she had a really good turn of foot. She’s a bit of a handful, but her appetite has been good and her attitude has been very straightforward since getting to me.

“This might have set her up for the Breeders’ Cup (Juvenile Fillies Turf on November 3 at Del Mar). We’ll see how she comes out of it and I’ll talk to the partners and go from there.”

Fatale Bere returned $16.60 to win, $8 to place, and $5.20 to show. Moon Dash brought back $6.20 to place and $4.20 to show, while Retro paid $3.20 to show.

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