Emerging 3-year-old filly Iscreamuscream maintained her perfect record, improving to 3-for-3 for trainer Phil D'Amato with a commanding front-running victory in the Grade 2, $200,000 San Clemente Stakes on the opening day at Del Mar.
Making her stakes debut and first start around two turns, the favoured Iscreamuscream broke sharply under jockey Hector Berrios, seizing the lead into the first turn. She faced early pressure from long shot Omaha Girl (43-1) while setting fractions of 22.76, 47.49, and 1:12.38 for six furlongs in the one-mile turf event. At the top of the stretch, Omaha Girl began to fade under Geovanni Franco, allowing Iscreamuscream to maintain her pace and fend off a late charge from stablemate Zona Verde, ridden by Juan Hernandez, to win by three-quarters of a length.
Previously unbeaten Grade 3 winner Medoro, the 2-1 second choice trained by Peter Eurton, finished a troubled third under Antonio Fresu. Sakura Blossom (17-1) completed the superfecta.
Iscreamuscream crossed the finish line in a time of 1:35.87. The Twirling Candy filly paid $4.40, $3.00, and $2.40. Zona Verde returned $6.00 and $3.80, while Medoro paid $2.60.
Iscreamuscream debuted last October at Santa Anita, winning a six-furlong turf race. She then went on a hiatus, returning on June 13 at Santa Anita to win stylishly by 3 1/2 lengths from off the pace.
Co-owned by Little Red Feather Racing, John Hundley Jr., Marsha Naify, John Snyder, and Stacey Snyder, Iscreamuscream was purchased for $145,000 at last year's OBS March sale of 2-year-olds in training.