Dirty Dancing Stakes

The last of three group races on Saturday’s card in Dubai, the Dirty Dancing Stakes will be held over six furlongs on the dirt. The Group I race, offering up a total prize purse of $500,000 is set to go off with a post time of 4:00 PM EST. The race is open to fillies and mares, four-years-old and up. This year the race is be run over a fast dirt track with eight contenders going into the starting gate. Let’s take a look through this year’s runners. 

1. Bullstar (AUS) – danmarko – S. Ledwith – 24/1 

Making her first Group start this weekend, the six-year-old Australian-bred mare has raced predominantly in the allowance ranks for most of her career. Sired by Bull Point (AUS), the mare’s most recent start came in Ireland over a mile on a sloppy dirt course. Breaking out of the gate and settling into fourth out of the gate, she started to fall back as the field entered the midway point of the race, dropping back to eighth at the wire and setting a speed figure of eighty-six. Her most recent win was this past February over seven and a half furlongs in another allowance race, this time in South Africa. She took this race in gate to wire fashion, winning by half a length. The mare has made one attempt at a listed stakes race in the past, running over seven furlongs on the good dirt in a listed stakes race in Turkey over seven furlongs where she would cross the finish line in twelfth. 

2. Ever Tappin – lovelight – C. Meads – 5/1  

Returning to Group company to make her second attempt against this caliber of competition, the five-year-old mare will be making her twenty-sixth career start. She is coming into this race off of a win this past September in a listed stakes race over five and a half furlongs in Minnesota. The bay mare took this race in wire-to-wire fashion, winning the contest by a length with a speed figure of one hundred three. To date she has made just one other start against Group company, this coming this past May in Iowa during the Ferry Dust Handicap (G3) at six furlongs where she crossed the wire in second after leading the field right up to the final furlongs.  

3. Drive To Kentucky – vautour – L. Slater – 4/1 

Making her fourth consecutive Group I start, this four-year-old light grey filly is by Fiber Sonde and bred in West Virginia. The top ten ranked dirt sprinting filly most recently started in New York during The Big Apple Distaff (G1) at six and a half furlongs. Going to the lead out of the gate, the filly led the field by a narrow margin up to the halfway point of the race when she began to drop off the pace. She would cross the wire third here, setting a speed figure of one hundred four. Her most recent win came in March when she took a step down in class to an allowance race over seven furlongs in Maryland. She took this race in wire-to-wire fashion, winning by two and three-quarter lengths. Her most recent group win was in October of last year during The Quote The Raven (G2) at seven furlongs. 

4. Spanish Affairs (JPN) – cjt5 – B. Ball – 95/1 

The longshot of the field for Saturday’s race, this Japanese-bred filly will be making her first start against Group company this weekend. The light grey four-year-old will be making her twentieth career start and will be dropping back in distance significantly since her most recent start. This start came last August in Thailand during an allowance race over eleven furlongs. Facing a short five-horse field in the race, the filly was out of the gate near the back in fourth early. She would make some advancement throughout the race before crossing the wire in third, setting a speed figure of eighty-two. The light grey filly has won just once in her career, this being when she broke her maiden in June of last year over a mile in her native Japan. She was held well off the pace early before being let go in the stretch to win by half a length.  

5. Mind Your Shackles (JPN) – kizunafarms1 – H. Harzheim – 5/2 

Another Japanese-bred will be going into the fifth gate. This four-year-old chestnut filly most recently started in New York during The Big Apple Distaff (G1) at six and a half furlongs. The filly settled back early off the pace in second and took over the pace at the midway point of the race, but then was overtaken by a late charging new comer and shuffled back to second at the wire. The daughter of Mind Your Biscuits set a speed figure of one hundred twelve for the race. Her start prior to this was her most recent win, which came in early July over the same distance in the Firecracker Stakes (G2), also in New York. The chestnut filly was much farther off the pace early on in this race, not making her move until midway through the race and ultimately winning by one and a quarter lengths. 

6. Pink Gelato – sjmeola13 – D. Brock – 5/1 

Lightly raced and making her fourteenth career start this weekend, the five-year-old bay daughter of Maximum Security has been coming into her own as of late and is taking a step up in class this weekend in facing against Group I company for the first time. Her most recent start came in late August during The Strictly Business Stakes (G3) at five furlongs in Maryland. Going straight to the lead out the starting gate, the mare ran uncontested over the five furlongs on the dirt to win by three-quarters of a length while setting a speed figure of one hundred three. Since reaching her five-year-old season, the mare has won two other group stakes races this year, finishing off the board only once. 

7. Nuka Sassy (AUS) – xmonster2 – P. Jones – 5/1 

Nearing the end of our field for Saturday, the second Australian-bred filly is by the late Lonhro. The four-year-old will be making her fifteenth lifetime start with this race. Lake quite a few others in our field, her last race came in New York during The Big Apple Distaff (G1) at six and a half furlongs. She was nearly last out of the gate in eighth at the start. The filly didn’t seem to find her stride in the race and didn’t make any sort of bid until very late in the race, which only put her into seventh at the wire. She set a speed figure of ninety-eight for the race. Her most recent win came this past February during a listed stakes race over six furlongs in Kentucky. She was sent out to the middle of the seven-horse field in this race, making her move midway through the race and up to win by a length.  

8. Rare Comedy – 2ndchoice – R. Harzheim – 3/1 

Last into the starting gate on Saturday, this five-year-old mare. The well-bred mare will be going out for her twenty-first start this weekend and taking a step up in class for her first Group I start. The chestnut mare’s most recent race was held in Italy this past August during the Lil’ Leprechaun Dash (G2) at seven furlongs. The mare was placed towards the rear of the field, out of the gate in sixth at the break. She began picking up position early in the race as she went around other horses. She had moved up to third when the field reached the wire, setting a speed figure of one hundred nine for the race. Her race before this was her most recent win which came here in Dubai during the Red Fish Blue Fish Cup (G3) at seven and a half furlongs. With a similar running style, she would come from off the pace to win the sprint by one and three-quarter lengths.  

Flrancho’s Picks: 

Win: Drive To Kentucky 

Place: Mind Your Shackles (JPN) 

Show: Pink Gelato