Football
Steve Andersen 17y

Mabee has making of Frankel exacta

DEL MAR, Calif. -- Everything looked set for Price Tag and Precious Kitten to dominate the $1 million CashCall Mile at Hollywood Park last month until Lady of Venice came rolling through the stretch and ran past most of the field.

Trainer Bobby Frankel shrugged, admitted that his fillies Price Tag and Precious Kitten had been outrun, and regrouped for the second half of the summer.

Price Tag and Precious Kitten return in Saturday's $400,000 John Mabee Handicap at Del Mar, and their styles complement each other, and could lead to a one-two finish in the Grade 1 race over 1 1/8 miles on turf.

Price Tag, who will go favored, is the 121-pound topweight and should get an ideal trip, stalking two speed-oriented rivals - Precious Kitten and Dancing Edie, the defending champion.

Getting Price Tag to run well from off the pace is vital if she is to win. Owned by Juddmonte Farms, Price Tag was "too rank" in the CashCall Mile on July 6, according to Frankel's assistant trainer, Humberto Ascanio. Price Tag was closer to the front than normal, took the lead in the stretch, and finished third, 1 1/4 lengths behind Lady of Venice.

In the Mabee, Price Tag will be ridden by Alex Solis, who was aboard the filly when she finished a game second to another stablemate, Citronnade, in the Grade 1 Gamely Handicap at Hollywood Park on May 28.

Ascanio is hoping Price Tag can emulate her victory in the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes last November, her U.S. debut.

"When she won the Matriarch, she was next to last and came flying," Ascanio said. "I think she can run a mile and an eighth. She came running at the end of the Gamely. Solis was thrilled with that race."

Precious Kitten had a one-length lead on the final turn of the CashCall Mile and finished second, just ahead of Price Tag, beaten 1 1/4 lengths. A winner of three stakes, Precious Kitten is not a committed front-runner, having won the Gallorette Handicap in course-record time at Pimlico in May by stalking the pace. She is owned by Sarah and Kenneth Ramsey.

Not having Precious Kitten dueling for the lead would be fine with trainer Craig Dollase, who will start Dancing Edie. A 5-year-old mare, Dancing Edie is winless in four starts since the 2006 Mabee.

She was eighth in the CashCall Mile, losing any chance of a placing when she was steadied in the stretch.

"She just never got the lead and had a four-wide trip," Dollase said. "She's come back and had two good works since the race. I hope Bobby doesn't send one of his."

Dancing Edie will try for the lead, having drawn the rail. She has run well in three starts on the Del Mar turf course, including a third in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks in 2005.

"I like the draw, down on the rail," Dollase said. "She will be on the lead. She's shown her true colors when she's on the front in a dogfight."

Dollase's father, Wally, will start Take the Ribbon, the winner of the Grade 3 Churchill Downs Distaff Turf Mile over a yielding turf course on May 5.

Owned by Eurowest Bloodstock, Take the Ribbon is best from a stalking position. She was third in the Just a Game Stakes at Belmont Park on June 9. Last summer, Take the Ribbon finished second in the Del Mar Oaks but was disqualified and placed fourth for causing interference in the stretch, a decision that left Dollase furious.

"We're looking for redemption this year," said Aimee Dollase, her father's assistant.

The race has drawn two mares capable of producing a surprise. Memorette is winless in eight starts since winning the Grade 2 Beverly Hills Handicap at Hollywood Park in June 2006. Andrea, a New Zealand-bred 6-year-old mare, was second in this year's Beverly Hills Handicap on July 1, her U.S. stakes debut.

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