Dalika has found her calling as turf sprinter

ELMONT, N.Y. – In a bit of an oddity, trainer Al Stall Jr. has never won a race at Belmont Park, going 0 for 26 since he ran his first horse here in 1997.

“Isn’t that crazy?” Stall said. “I ain’t scared. We’re going to keep on coming.”

Friday, Dalika will be Stall’s first Belmont starter in five years when she runs in the $100,000 License Fee Stakes going six furlongs on turf.

Dalika, a German-bred daughter of Pastorius, went 1 for 7 last year, all in races at a mile or farther. This year, Stall started Dalika out sprinting and she won a second-level allowance going 5 1/2 furlongs on May 21 at Churchill Downs .

“She was a little too aggressive going longer with a slower pace,” Stall said Wednesday. “She got a little better as the year went on, but we were never happy with how she settled for us. We gave her the winter off, took a shot at sprinting her where the pace is going to be fast and where you don’t have to wrestle with her. It couldn’t have worked out any better.”

Joel Rosario, aboard for that Churchill win, has the call again from the outside post in this eight-horse field.

Despite an ugly-looking running line in her last start, Getmotherarose could be a live longshot in the License Fee.

Getmotherarose has won her last four starts at six furlongs on turf, three of those coming at Belmont last year. She raced three times at Gulfstream Park, including an 11-1 upset win in the Grade 3 Honey Fox going a mile.

Getmotherarose is coming off a ninth-place finish in the Grade 3 Intercontinental Stakes, run over yielding turf here June 6. Despite having run well over less than firm ground, Getmotherarose was never a factor, finishing 25 lengths behind Newspaperofrecord.

Tom Bush, the trainer of Getmotherarose, said jockey Junior Alvarado told him, “He could tell first jump out of the gate she didn’t like the going.”

Bush said the filly has trained well enough to give her another stakes try.

“She had a beautiful work the other day, finished up strong,” Bush said. “She’s staying in the feed tub, she’s carrying her weight, she’s doing everything right.”

Jose Lezcano will ride Getmotherarose from post 3.

Trainer Jonathan Thomas was pleased with what he saw in a turf workout Sunday morning from Bridlewood Cat to give the Street Sense filly her first run on that surface in this spot. Bridlewood Cat has won 2 of 5 starts and was most recently fourth after a stumble at the start in the Correction Stakes on March 14 at Aqueduct.

“I thought Bridlewood Cat looked like she appreciated the turf, maybe stepped up and finished up well and galloped out well,” Thomas said. “I’ve always had it in the back of my mind she might like the grass because of her scope and her stride.”

Thomas also runs Escapade, who was chasing the win machine Jean Elizabeth during the winter in Florida in races going five furlongs.

“Escapade is a cool, overachieving filly who is kind of unlucky to not win a stakes,” Thomas said. “I’m intrigued to stretch her out a little bit.”