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Sweet Dani Girl Repeats in Sunshine Filly & Mare Turf
1/14/2024
Mott-Trained Roswell Out of This World on Debut
McGaughey-Trained Mystifying Figures It Out Fast
HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Making her first start for trainer Christophe Clement, Sweet Dani Girl shook free of traffic at the top of the stretch to prevail in Sunday’s $75,000 Sunshine Filly & Mare Turf at Gulfstream Park.
Purchased for $350,000 at the Fasig-Tipton November sale, the 5-year-old daughter of Jess’s Dream was favored at 1-5 in the mile turf stakes for Florida-bred older fillies and mares.
Sweet Dani Girl, who captured last year’s running for trainer Carlo Vaccarezza after setting the pace, was outsprinted for the lead by Baby Steps and was locked down on the inside around the first turn and along the backstretch. After being steadied a couple times, Sweet Dani Girl and Irad Ortiz Jr. found room at the top of the stretch, and the odds-on favorite kicked in to prevail by 1 ½ lengths over Baby Steps.
“I saved ground into the first turn of the race and the pace slowed down a little more than what I wanted on the backside, but she was handling it. She was waiting for me,” Ortiz said. “I see a hole inside and kind of like go forward and she responded. We cut the corner and followed the horse on the lead, then I tip her out and she was finishing very nice.”
Sweet Dani Girl, who ran the mile on turf in 1:35.25, is owned by Michael Dubb, Steven Bouchey, New Phoenix Stable and America’s Pastimes Stables LLC.
“She’s trained well. There was a small question mark because there was a lot of speed in the race and she’s been winning with another trainer on the lead,” Clement said. “Irad did a great job and she was the best horse today.”
In addition to the winner’s share of the purse, Sweet Dani Girl collected $10,000 in FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes Top 3 Bonus money. Charlie’s Wish earned an additional $4,000 in purse money for his third-place finish.
Clement said multiple graded stakes-winning Sweet Dani Girl would be pointed to a stakes for Florida-breds at Tampa Bay Downs before returning to open stakes company late in the Championship Meet at Gulfstream.
Mott-Trained Roswell Out of This World on Debut
Roswell’s debut in Sunday’s Race 4 at Gulfstream Park was out of this world.
Helen Alexander’s homebred 3-year-old daughter of Into Mischief raced three-wide while stalking longshot pacesetter Far and Few on the backstretch before entering the stretch in pursuit of Far and Few, who opened up by 1 ½ lengths in mid-stretch. Roswell reeled in the 78-1 outsider inside the final sixteenth of the six-furlong maiden special weight test for 3-year-old fillies and drew off by 1 ½-lengths under Junior Alvarado.
“The filly’s been working very nicely. She’s an aggressive type, but she really hasn’t made any mistakes,” Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said. “She’s put in some useful works and she’s very athletic.”
Roswell ($25), who ran six furlongs in 1:10.81, is out of Acoma, a daughter of Empire Maker who won seven-graded stakes, including the 2010 Spinster (G1) at Keeneland.
Two races later on Sunday’s card, favored Mott-trained Dazzle ‘Em ran out of ground in an attempt to catch Phipps Stable’s first-time starter Mystifying in another six-furlong maiden special weight race for sophomore fillies.
Mystifying ($16.20) was involved in a contested pace among three fillies while racing along the rail before shaking clear turning for home. The daughter of Into Mischief resisted the 4-5 favorite’s late stretch bid to prevail by a half-length under Jose Ortiz.
“Jose worked her out of the gate one day at Payson and she worked really well. I thought she was tactical enough to run three-quarters, but she’s going to want to run farther,” McGaughey said. “He told me she just took him there on her own. He was like, ‘If you want to go, we’ll go.’ I think she’s got a good future in front of her.”
Mystifying ran six furlongs in 1:11.68.