(Edited Del Mar Thoroughbred Club report)

DEL MAR, Calif. – Ike and Dawn Thrash’s Tell a Kelly, ridden with perfect timing by jockey Alonso Quinonez, rallied from last place in the early furlongs with a devastating move entering the stretch to score impressively in the Grade 1 $250,000 Darley Debutante for two-year-old fillies Saturday.

Tell a Kelly, far back for a half-mile, rallied between horses at the top of the stretch, quickly took command and drew out easily in the final furlong to win by 4 1/2 lengths in the seven-furlong sprint which traditionally crowns the juvenile filly champion of the summer season.

John (trainer John Sadler) just told me to warm her up a little bit, but to keep her relaxed. He said she’d have more energy for the race if I did that. She broke well and I could tell they were going very, very fast up there. I just let her settle and then I started looking for my spots. I didn’t want to get caught in behind some horse that was stopping; I wanted to go with the horses that were going. It all worked out great. I asked her and she exploded. She a very nice filly and I’m glad I got to ride her,” Quinonez said.

Wickedly Perfect, the 5-2 favorite under Rafael Bejarano, set the pace into the stretch but was unable to hold off the charge of Tell a Kelly while holding the runner-up spot by 2 1/4 lengths over 30-1 longshot Rigoletta. Izshelegal was fourth in the field of ten fillies. Withdrawn from the race were Big Tiz and Distant Glow.

“I didn’t expect to be on the lead, but nobody was going. My filly was relaxed up there and she was running well. She ran well at the end, too. It was just that the winner went by me so easy I couldn’t believe it. She (Tell a Kelly) was the best,” Bejarano said.

Tell a Kelly, a daughter of Tapit trained by John Sadler, ran the distance in 1:23.05 and returned $11.20, $5.60 and $3.60. The victory was her second in three starts, having broken her maiden Aug. 15 at Del Mar. First money of $150,000 increased her earnings to $181,000.

“The first race she ran here she was pretty green, but showed a lot of determination to finish fourth. The second time she caught a heavy favorite and was much better and won. We were asking a lot of her running three times at Del Mar, but Stardom Bound did it a couple of years ago, so we gave it a try. I was hoping there would be a good pace, because she likes to ease back and settle. She was able to do that today. We’ll stay home and run at Oak Tree in the Oak Leaf and then head for Kentucky for the Breeders’ Cup (Juvenile Fillies),” Sadler said.

As is the case with most of Ike and Dawn Thrash’s horses, they are named for members of the family. Tell a Kelly is named for a daughter.

This gives the Thrash family two Grade I winners on the year. Tell a Kelly joins Line of David, the winner of the Arkansas Derby who is named for Kelly’s husband, David Oliver. The family also won the Derby Trial at Churchill with Hurricane Ike, named after you know who.

The stakes win was the fourth of the meet for Quinonez, but his first in the Darley Debutante. He now has six stakes wins at Del Mar.

The stakes win was the third of the meet for Sadler and his first in the Darley Debutante. He now has 35 stakes wins at Del Mar, ninth best all time.

Besides the winning purse of $150,000, Tell a Kelly’s owners also receive a free breeding season to the Darley stallion Street Boss, who has a 2010 fee of $20,000. The breeder of Tell a Kelly, Karen C. West in Florida, also receives a free breeding season, this one to the Darley stallion Any Given Saturday, whose 2010 breeding fee is $25,000.