Lutine Belle rallies to win Blue Norther at Santa Anita

ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) Lutine Belle rallied to win the $75,000 Blue Norther Stakes for 3-year-old fillies by 1 1/4 lengths Thursday at Santa Anita, giving Hall of Fame jockey Alex Solis his 5,000th victory.

Lutine Belle ran one mile on the turf in 1:35.50 and paid $41.80, $18.40 and $7.80 at 19-1 odds in the field of 10.

American Sun, another 19-1 shot, returned $20 and $9, while 6-5 favorite Rainha Da Bateria was another three-quarters of a length back in third and paid $2.80 to show.

Solis returned to Southern California on a full-time basis last summer.

''It is nice to get it out of the way,'' he said. ''It just stayed (stuck on 4,999) for a long time. It's done now and it was special to do it on one of my son's horses. That made it more special.''

Solis's son, Alex II, is part-owner of Lutine Belle, who ran for the first time on turf.

''We felt she would fit nicely with these fillies if she could handle the turf,'' said Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. ''We weren't concerned about getting her off the pace because it looked like there was plenty of speed in the race. I was concerned about her getting pushed down inside (from her No. 4 post). She did get pushed down there going into the first turn, but Alex was able to get her out down the backside.''

The victory, worth $46,800, increased Lutine Belle's career earnings to $92,700, with three wins in six starts.