14 fillies tangle in Davona Dale

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – There are no Unique Bellas stabled on the East Coast this winter, which is why a full field of 14 3-yearold fillies has been entered in the Grade 2, $200,000 Davona Dale Stakes on Saturday’s 13-race Fountain of Youth program at Gulfstream Park.

Grade 1 winner Pretty City Dancer and the twotime graded stakes winner Miss Sky Warrior top the lineup, which also includes the stakes-placed Eloquent Riddle and the speedy stakes winner Yes I’ll Go. The Davona Dale will be decided at one mile and serves as a prep for the meet’s cornerstone event for 3-year-old fillies, the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks on April 1.

Pretty City Dancer deadheated for first in the Grade 1 Spinaway at Saratoga to close out her 2-year-old campaign. She kicked off her 3-year-old season by finishing a close second behind Tequilita in the Grade 2, seven-furlong Forward Gal here. Tequilita will skip the Davona Dale to await the Gulfstream Oaks.

Pretty City Dancer breaks from post 12 under regular rider Julien Leparoux in the Davona Dale. She will race with blinkers for the first time.

“Where did they all come from?” asked Pretty City Dancer’s trainer, Mark Casse, who also entered Summer Luck in the Davona Dale. “The post doesn’t concern me, not going a mile. I’m more concerned about the 1 hole for Summer Luck.”

Casse said he’s putting blinkers on Pretty City Dancer to help “keep her straight.”

“If you watch her, she always wants to lay on horses,” said Casse. “It cost her the race at Saratoga and may have cost her the other day, too.”

Casse is also high on Summer Luck, who finished a late-running fourth in the Forward Gal.

“I think she’s a little bit of a hidden gem,” said Casse. “She really didn’t have enough speed going seven furlongs, but after the race, she was the strongest of the bunch.”

Miss Sky Warrior won her final three starts at 2, including the Grade 3 Tempted at a mile and the Grade 2 Demoiselle at 1 1/8 miles at Aqueduct.

“She’s wintered well, doing great and acting great,” said trainer Kelly Breen. “We’re trying to get her to the Kentucky Oaks if possible, so I didn’t want to run her in the [Forward Gal] if we’re trying to teach her to stretch out. So, we opted to wait and start her here at a mile. She might rate a bit, but I suspect she’ll be forwardly placed again.”

Eloquent Riddle finished third, beaten two lengths by Miss Sky Warrior, in the Tempted, and like that rival, she has not started since November. Eloquent Riddle has been training forwardly at Palm Meadows.

Yes I’ll Go earned a 90 Beyer Speed Figure debuting at six furlongs last fall at Gulfstream Park West for trainer Jorge Navarro. Under new trainer Armando De la cerda, she won the $50,000 fillies’ division of OBS Sprint in her last start.