INGLEWOOD – The owners of Turbulent Descent now know at least two things about their filly.
She loves Hollywood Park's synthetic Cushion Track and she can win around two turns.
Turbulent Descent, sent postward as the even-money favorite, remained undefeated in three starts by rallying to win the $412,250 Grade I Hollywood Starlet on Saturday by 1<MD+,%30,%55,%70>1/<MD-,%0,%55,%70>4 lengths over 37-1 long shot Big Tiz. Del Mar Debutante winner Tell a Kelly finished third.
Turbulent Descent, ridden by David Flores, became the first winner of the ungraded Moccasin Stakes to win the Starlet, a 1<MD+,%30,%55,%70>1/<MD-,%0,%55,%70>16-mile race for 2-year-old fillies that was won last year by Blind Luck.
The Congrats filly debuted in a six-furlong maiden special weight during the Oak Tree at Hollywood Park meet Oct. 3, when she rallied from fourth to win by three-quarters of a length. She then beat five rivals in the seven-furlong Moccasin at Hollywood Park on Nov. 21 by 1<MD+,%30,%55,%70>1/<MD-,%0,%55,%70>2 lengths before running her career record to 3-0 with the Starlet victory.
Turbulent Descent, owned by Blinkers On Racing Stable and Bill Strauss, ran the distance in 1:44.18 in her two-turn debut while rallying from fourth early on. Flores showed her the whip in the stretch, but never had to use it.
Turbulent Descent, purchased for $160,000 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. spring sale in April, picked up a first-place check for $245,550 to hike her career earnings to $328,350.
Nina Fever, a 9-1 shot ridden by Garrett Gomez, set the early pace with fractions of 23.55, 47.14 and 1:12.13 but faded to seventh in the field of eight 2-year-old fillies as the closers came charging home.
"I wasn't going to take any chances, and I would have hit her, but it was not needed," Flores said. "I just hand-rode her all the way out. I just showed her the whip.
It was the second victory in the Starlet for Flores, who scored aboard Romance Is Diane in the 2006 running.
Puype said Turbulent Descent's next start is unknown.
"We'll give her a little break right now and she'll show up in about two months," he said.
Veteran trainer Mel Stute scored the 2,000th victory of his career when 25-1 long shot Score for Fun won the first race in gate-to-wire fashion under Edwin Maldonado.
Stute, 83, saddled his first winner (Egg Nog) in 1947 at Portland Meadows before going on to win the Santa Anita Derby, Preakness Stakes and Jersey Derby with Snow Chief in 1986.
He's won two Breeders' Cup races, with Brave Raj (1986 Juvenile Fillies) and Very Subtle (1987 Sprint).
Cost of Freedom, a 7-year-old gelding who's also shown a great affinity for Hollywood Park, broke the five-furlong Cushion Track record when he won the $71,706 Miles Tyson Stakes by 4<MD+,%30,%55,%70>1/<MD-,%0,%55,%70>4 lengths in 56.14 seconds. The old record was 56.68, set by Necessary Evil on May 31, 2009.
It was Cost of Freedom's third consecutive victory and his fifth win in eight tries at Hollywood Park. Cost of Freedom, ridden by Joe Talamo, went postward as the 2-5 favorite and never seriously was challenged while setting splits of 21.50 and 44.10.
Trainer John Sadler said Cost of Freedom will resurface in either the $150,000 Palos Verdes Stakes on Jan. 22 or the $200,000 Sunshine Millions Sprint on Jan. 29 at Santa Anita.