Run at a distance of one mile on the Gulfstream Park dirt, the Davona Dale offers a total purse of $200,000. In addition to the winner, the top four finishers will also gain Kentucky Oaks qualifying points on a 50-20-10-5 scale.
Despite the fact she's stepping up to graded-stakes racing for the very first time in a fairly experienced field, the oddsmaker at Gulfstream has made Fly So High the strong even-money favorite in the morning line. She comes in on a two-race winning streak in three lifetime starts for trainer Shug McGaughey, the last of which was a 5 1/2 length romp on the Gulfstream dirt in an allowance race also run at one mile. The last half of that race was run in relatively slow time, and she needs to prove she can handle much tougher competition.
Behind her the ML odds would indicate the race is pretty wide open, and includes graded-stakes winner Take Charge Paula, who seems to be an overlay at odds of 5-1. She comes into the Davona Dale with a graded-stakes win from her last effort in the (G3) Forward Gal Stakes, her third stakes victory in a row, the last two of which have come at Gulfstream.
She in fact has four wins and a runner-up finish in six stakes races, and five lifetime wins in seven starts. She has shown the ability to run very well just off the pace, and you can expect her to be somewhere up close to the leaders until they make the turn for home. She currently sits in eighth spot on the Kentucky Oaks leaderboard.
It could be expected that early pace may be set by Alter Moon, the longest shot on the board at 15-1 in a race that feels like it could produce an upset. She's run twice in her career so far, finishing second in her debut at Gulfstream in mid-December before breaking through with her maiden win three weeks later on the same track. She set the pace from out of the gate in that one, and although the final time wasn't especially fast, it was probably fast enough that a repeat would give her a shot at being in the final mix in this field.
The most experienced filly in the field with eight lifetime starts is Miss Mo Mentum (8-1) for trainer Mark Casse. Although she finished well back of Take Charge Paula in the Forward Gal, she did score an impressive stakes victory in her race prior to that at Gulfstream, running away and hiding to win by more than eight lengths. While likely not a threat for the win, she's a good bet for the bottom spots on trifecta and superfecta tickets.
The Davona Dale is race #8 on the 14-race Gulfstream card on Saturday, with an expected post time of 3:00. It's followed later in the day by the Fountain of Youth Stakes, which is a qualifier for the Kentucky Derby.
Entries w/ ML Odds
Davona Dale Picks
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