Fillies Dazzle in CA
The juvenile division is slowly beginning to take shape, but there’s still plenty of space for upstart newcomers to push their way to the top. The latest battleground is the Grade 2 Dazzling Daisies Stakes, a $225,000 affair for fillies at 6.5 furlongs, and it’s a case in point: a race packed with first-time graded stakes starters, and with a maiden winner taking morning line favoritism despite the presence of a Grade 3 winner in the field.
That favored filly is Gold War Slew, a daughter of Seeking the Gold out of a War Chant mare whose second foal was a Grade 3 winner at two. Gold War Slew debuted over 7 furlongs on a “good” Indiana track and ran a polished, professional race, stalking the place and drawing off commandingly down the stretch. It’s hard to knock the way she did it or the 79 speed rating she earned in the process; the question here is whether she can do it again.
The oddsmakers seem to think so; they’ve given her the nod over second choices with four times the experience. Trial And Treasure is by hot young sire Mineshaft, out of a Grade 1-placed Forty Niner mare, and has three wins from four starts thus far. Two of those came in stakes company, and the horse she beat in the second came back to win a stakes in her own next start. She’s a front-running sort, and her top speed rating (and 80) is very solid.
The top number in the race belongs to A Good Thing, by first-crop sire Good Reward, who’s off to a startlingly good beginning, and also out of a Forty Niner mare. She’s three-for-three on the board and earned an 84 in her last race, the Smackdown III, where she produced the biggest closing effort in the field and finished fourth. She won’t have quite as much ground to work with here, but her competition is a bit softer.
Undefeated Sensible weighs in as the third choice. The pretty brown filly is by Johannesburg and out of a Buckaroo daughter. Like the favorite, she’s in possession of good tactical speed, and it’s carried her to three straight wins. Her connections have handled her cautiously; beating up on allowance horses is a nice confidence-builder and springboard to tougher.
The aforementioned Grade 3 winner is First Buzzard, by Forest Wildcat. Her dam is a Forty Niner mare whose first foal, Sip of Saki, is a millionaire nearly three times over and has spent four seasons as a legit graded stakes horse. It’s a lot to live up to. First Buzzard is trying, though, and her well-timed pounce in the Baby’s First Stakes was a good start. She backed up in the Stoker Handicap last out, and this will test of her courage as much as anything else.
Good Reward’s second representative is Reward Niner, yet another Forty Niner granddaughter. The five-time starter is the veteran of the field. She was second in a big restricted stakes field her first time out, then broke her maiden and picked up an allowance placing. All of those races–plus her most recent–came on the turf; her only dirt attempt was a sixth in the Vermont BB Juvenile Filly, with a 72 speed rating. It’s hard to love her chances on the strength of that, alas.
Dixieburg will break on the inside rail and will be looking to have her nose on or near the lead almost immediately. A daughter of Johannesburg from a really useful Dixieland Band, she was outfinished in her debut effort but came back tighter and a bit more patient next time out and drew away for the win. Her 77 speed rating was fine as she steps up.
Winticket Stables snagged the latest foal from a popular Halo mare whose first offspring was millionaire Flambeau. This year’s two-year-old is Include Me Too, a grey daughter of Include who won her first race gate to wire and drawing off. She picked up a 72 there. She’s been saddled, unfortunately for her, with jockey J. Straw.
But sometimes good horses come from unexpected places, as with Gilded Edge, a modestly-bred daughter of Gilded Time and a Cutlas mare. She’s four-for-four thus far, including a pair of open stakes, the latest with an 81 speed rating. She likes to run a bit towards the back of the pack and looks like she’ll appreciate a little added distance.
The last two entries in the field are the only two non-Kentucky-breds. Lolita Lempicka hails from Ireland; Unusual Stride T is California-bred. Lolita Lempicka is by Azamour and out of a Seattle Slew mare. She won two allowances right out of the box and struggled a bit when raised to stakes company. Those races were on the grass. Her sire’s first crop has not thrived on the dirt, but it’s not beyond the realm of possibility.
Unusual Stride T is another maiden breaker, by Unusual Heat, out of a Well Decorated mare. She made her first start in Wyoming and pressed the pace before launching a well-timed attack that put her a quarter-length clear at the wire with a 69 speed rating. Nothing here screams graded stakes winner, but she certainly hasn’t put a foot wrong.