Staying to End of Sale Pays Dividends for Dini, Lustig

Staying to the end of last summer's Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s June 2016 2-year-olds sale third session paid dividends for trainer Mike Dini and Alan Lustig, owner of Ballybrit Stable.

They were among the few buyers and bloodstock agents still in the sales pavilion when a filly by the young sire Hightail  , out of the Dynaformer mare Southern Dynamo, stepped into the ring.

"We had marked her earlier and even though she was (one of the) last horses to go in the ring, we decided we'd wait around and see how the bidding went on her," Dini recalled. "I really thought she would go for a lot more than she did, and so did Alan. When we were able to take her home for $5,000, we thought we might have gotten a bargain."

A bargain indeed. That filly, who they named Dynatail, will try for a fourth straight victory and second straight stakes win when she starts in the $200,000 Florida Oaks (G3T) March 11 at Tampa Bay Downs. The 1 1/16-mile turf test will be the stiffest challenge of Dynatail's career but her trainer thinks his young star is ready to "run with the big dogs."

Dynatail will be making her graded stakes debut after posting a clear victory in the OBS Championship Stakes (fillies division) Jan. 24 on the synthetic surface at Ocala Training Center.

"She's been training great," Dini said. "We worked her Saturday morning and she went in 1:01 and change. Now she's had four works since her race in Ocala, so I'm very happy about the way she's coming up to this race."

Dynatail's gritty performance in the Ocala race and the way she turned back a determined bid from On Her Honor through the crucial stages of that 1 1/16-mile race turned more than a few heads. After setting the pace inside under jockey Orlando Bocachica, Dynatail looked like a beaten horse inside the final furlong, when On Her Honor ranged up outside and gained the advantage. But Dynatail wasn't ready to give up, and when Bocachica roused her left-handed, she found a burst of energy, reclaimed the lead, and kicked clear to win by 1 3/4 lengths. 

At the time, Dini thought his star may have been beat, but he also wasn't surprised to see her regroup and still have something left. 

"I think she had been in front most of the way and she sort of waited for that horse to get up to her," Dini said. "She'll do the same thing in the morning when we work her in company, she sort of floats if she's in front, looking for someone to run with."

Dini wasn't quite sure if he was going to have a problem horse on his hands early in Dynatail's career.

"She bolted on me at the Meadowlands last fall, so when we brought her down here (to Tampa), we put blinkers on, and she seemed to get much more focused in the morning," Dini said. "But when we ran her here the first time going a mile Alan said, 'She broke great.' And I said, 'Don't get too excited until we see how she gets around that turn.' 

"Fortunately she had no problems that day and has been fine since, so I think the bearing out problems are behind us."

Dini expects to be on or near the lead from the start of Saturday's race, but the trainer doesn't think a scenario that finds Dynatail somewhere other than in front would eliminate her chances for success.

"Ideally we'd like to have the lead and be able to have something to say about the pace, but if she's not in front, I'm not going to panic. She's become so much more dialed in since she's been running with the blinkers. I'm confident she can adapt," Dini said. "Hopefully she'll show she has the ability to race with the top 3-year-old turf fillies in the country."

Also of note, Ballybrit Stable's grade 2-placed Bird's Eye View will make his 3-year-old debut Saturday in the $75,000 Columbia Stakes going a mile on the turf at Tampa. Bird's Eye View finished third in the $200,000 With Anticipation Stakes (G2T) last year at Saratoga Race Course and third in the $250,000 Dixiana Bourbon Stakes (G3T) at Keeneland during the fall.