Dalika Attempts to Bow Out a Winner in Pegasus F/M Turf

With the recent retirement of last year’s Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf (G3T) queen Regal Glory , trainer Chad Brown starts the grade 1-winning filly Shantisara  in her stablemate’s place. But she’ll have to catch Bal Mar Equine’s Dalika  first.

The German-bred sensation, a winner in 10 of 31 outings and more than $1.4 million in earnings, will line up at the starting gate for the final time in the Jan. 28 $500,000 Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf at Gulfstream Park. As in a majority of her races, Dalika, piloted by Brian Hernandez Jr. on Saturday, will attempt to strut her speed from flag fall to finish in the 1 1/8 mile turf contest for older fillies and mares. The 7-year-old daughter of Pastorius (GER) won three of her last four races in front-running fashion. Likely the pacesetter in the 11-horse Filly & Mare Turf, it will be Dalika’s first run over the Hallandale turf, which has traditionally been kind to horses on the lead.

“There’s not a horse in America that is more battle-tested than her,” said her trainer, Albert Stall Jr. “She couldn’t be more fit and couldn’t be more of a warrior, so we got that going for us, too.”

Battle-tested is right. In two of Dalika’s finest victories from last year, in the Beverly D. Stakes (G1T) at Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf Stakes (G3T), the gray prevailed by narrow margins following all-out slugfests to the wire. After finishing an uncharacteristic sixth behind Wakanaka  in the Fall Harvest Stakes on the Breeders’ Cup Championship Saturday undercard, Dalika closed out her 6-year-old campaign with a gate-to-wire score over fellow Pegasus Filly & Mare entrant Perseverancia  in Churchill’s Cardinal Stakes (G3T).

Finishing just ahead of Dalika in fifth in the Fall Harvest was Brown trainee and Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf favorite Shantisara. To Shantisara’s credit, the Fall Harvest was the 5-year-old’s first race in nearly six months. The Irish-bred had an abbreviated two starts in 2022 coming off a stellar sophomore season that saw the Coultsy filly capture the Pucker Up Stakes (G3T), Jockey Club Oaks Invitational, and Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1T) in succession.

Racing for the partnership of Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, and Robert LaPenta, Shantisara was a gallant second to Regal Glory in last year’s Jenny Wiley Stakes (G1T) in her 4-year-old debut. While Shantisara has won over firm ground, she does her best running over turf with a little give in it. Although rain is forecasted in the Hallandale area for Thursday, clear skies are predicted for Friday and Saturday leading up to the race.

Irad Ortiz Jr., the country’s leading jockey by earnings and wins in 2022, has the call on Shantisara.

In a race dominated by foreign-bred fillies, another contender from across the pond comes into the Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf having toppled the race favorites in her last triumph. Fall Harvest victress Wakanaka, an Irish-bred filly owned by Team Valor International and Gary Barber, will compete in her second Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf after finishing sixth in last year’s edition. That race was her first on North American soil after shipping into trainer Bill Mott’s barn from Europe. Since that effort, she has continued to show marked improvement, landing the Dance Smartly Stakes (G2T) at Woodbine and placing in the Just a Game Stakes (G1T), Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (G2T), and Honey Fox Stakes (G3T).

“When she first came here, she wasn’t that good around two turns,” said Barry Irwin, chief executive officer for Team Valor. “But as she’s raced and trained, she’s gotten smarter and better. She’s physically improved. She’s a lot better now than she was last year. She’s got a really good turn of foot. She’s not a very big filly, but she’s got a lot of power when she turns it on.”

A $975,000 buyback at this past fall’s Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, the daughter of Power  will look to continue her form into her 2023 campaign. Ridden by Joel Rosario, expect Wakanaka to come flying late. 

Other live contenders include West Coast shipper Queen Goddess , a grade 1 winner who was victorious in the Dec. 31 Robert J. Frankel Stakes (G3T) at Santa Anita Park last time out returning from a seven-month layoff and the Brendan Walsh-trained Lady Rockstar , most recently a game runner-up to Stolen Holiday  in the Dec. 31 Suwannee River Stakes (G3T)

Entries: TAA Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf Invitational S. presented by Pepsi (G3T)

Gulfstream Park, Saturday, January 28, 2023, Race 11

• Grade IIIT
• 1 1/16m
• Turf
• $500,000
• 4 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 4:06 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Artie's Princess (ON)	Jose L. Ortiz	119	Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.	20/1
2	2Dalika (GER)	Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr.	123	Albert M. Stall, Jr.	5/2
3	3Wakanaka (IRE)	Joel Rosario	121	William I. Mott	5/1
4	4Sweet Enough (GB)	Junior Alvarado	119	Roger L. Attfield	20/1
98	5Mona Stella (FL)	SCRATCHED	0	UNKNOWN	-
6	6Queen Goddess (KY)	Luis Saez	121	Michael W. McCarthy	9/2
7	7Lady Rockstar (GB)	Tyler Gaffalione	119	Brendan P. Walsh	6/1
8	8Justify My Love (BRZ)	Javier Castellano	119	Paulo H. Lobo	30/1
9	9Shantisara (IRE)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	119	Chad C. Brown	9/5
98	10Bay Storm (KY)	SCRATCHED	0	UNKNOWN	-
98	11Perseverancia (KY)	SCRATCHED	0	UNKNOWN	-