NEWS
Davona Dale, Royal Delta highlight star-studded card at Gulfstream
Posted: Wednesday, February 22, 2012 7:12 PM
ROYAL DELTA
PhotosByZ.com/Thoroughbred Times
by Tim Nichols
The road to the Kentucky Oaks (G1) heats up on Saturday at Gulfstream Park as the $250,000 Davona Dale Stakes (G2) for three-year-old fillies highlights a star-studded card featuring three graded stakes.
The 1 1/16-mile Davona Dale drew a strong field of nine, including Grade 1 winner Grace Hall.
The three-year-old Empire Maker filly won the Spinaway (G1) and Blue Hen Stakes last season before finishing second to eventual champion two-year-old filly My Miss Aurelia in the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1). Trained by Tony Dutrow, Grace Hall has not raced since the Breeders’ Cup, but has worked regularly at Palm Meadows Training Center, most recently covering four furlongs in :48.60 on February 19.
Grace Hall’s main competition may come from Grade 2 winner Disposablepleasure, a Giacomo filly trained by Todd Pletcher for Glencrest Farm.
Disposablepleasure broke through for her first win in her third start, dominating a 1 1/16-mile maiden special weight race by 11 lengths on October 6 at Belmont Park. She followed with a gritty nose victory in the Demoiselle Stakes (G2) on November 26 at Aqueduct in her most recent start.
Other contenders include multiple stakes winner Salad Girl, winner of her last three starts, stakes winners Captivating Lass and Frolic’s Revenge as well as Nuffsaid Nuffsaid, who enters on a two-race win streak for owner-breed Mark Grier and trainer Mark Hennig.
The graded stakes start at Gulfstream with the $100,000 Sabin Stakes (G3), which will feature the season debuts of reigning champion three-year-old filly Royal Delta and Grade 1 winner Awesome Maria.
Royal Delta sealed the Eclipse Award last season with an emphatic 2 ½-length romp in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic (G1). She has been breezing at Payson Park Training Center in preparation for Saturday’s start, her first for new owner Ben Leon’s Besilu Stables. Leon bought her for $8.5-million at the 2011 Keeneland November breeding stock sale.
Awesome Maria appeared on pace for an Eclipse Award of her own before suffering a condylar fracture last summer. Prior to the injury, she won four straight graded stakes, starting with the Sabin and ending with a three-length win in the Ogden Phipps Handicap (G1) in June.
A full field of 13 is entered for the $100,000 The Very One Stakes (G3) at 1 3/8 miles on the turf, including Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1) winner Perfect Shirl. Charles Fipke’s homebred will make her first start since taking the Breeders’ Cup.
The race also drew Group 1 winners Here to Win (Brz) and Casablanca Smile (Chi).
Stakes entries available at Thoroughbred Times
Tim Nichols is Internet content editor of Thoroughbred Times
