Wicked Halo, Happy Soul Return in Dixie Belle
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Photo: Coglianese Photos/Chelsea Durand
Wicked Halo lands the 2021 Adirondack Stakes at Saratoga Race Course
Two precocious, stakes-winning fillies entering lengthy layoffs will meet in the Feb. 19 $150,000 Dixie Belle Stakes at Oaklawn Park. Winchell Thoroughbreds' Wicked Halo and Gayla Rankin's Happy Soul ship into Hot Springs for their sophomore debuts in the six-furlong stakes test for 3-year-old fillies.
After finishing second to the boys in her April debut at Keeneland, Happy Soul dominated a field of maidens by 11 3/4 lengths at Belmont Park before scoring by daylight in the June 3 Astoria Stakes. The Astoria would be her last start of the season, as the daughter of Runhappy was put away for the remainder of the year. Trained by Wesley Ward, Happy Soul has been gearing up for the Dixie Belle at Santa Anita Park, turning in a sharp five-furlong move in :59.40 Feb. 6.
John Velazquez, who has ridden the filly in all three of her career starts, has the call.
Wicked Halo, from the barn of Steve Asmussen, became the first graded stakes-winning filly for leading first-crop sire Gun Runner when she notched a front-running victory in the Aug. 8 Adirondack Stakes (G2) at Saratoga Race Course. A two-length debut victress at Lone Star Park, the gray was third in the Debutante Stakes at Churchill Downs prior to her 3 1/2-length romp in the Adirondack.
She breezed a bullet five furlongs in 1:00 at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots Jan. 31 and will be piloted by Geovanni Franco for the first time.