Gulfstream: Alydaria has key versatility in Madcap Escapade

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer James Chapman thought enough of Alydaria last summer to launch her career at Saratoga in the Grade 3 Schuylerville. He thinks enough of her now to like her chances, no matter the surface, in Sunday’s $60,000 Madcap Escapade, a five-furlong overnight stakes for 3-year-old fillies scheduled for the turf at Gulfstream Park.

Alydaria ran a distant fifth in the Schuylerville but built off the experience to win two of her next three starts, a maiden special weight dash by five widening lengths nearing the tail end of the Saratoga session and a first-level optional claiming race making her turf debut here on Jan. 19.

“She acted like a really good filly the way she’d been working last summer at Saratoga, and the racing secretary kind of begged me to put her in the Schuylerville because it was a short field, so I did him a favor even though I knew she wasn’t tight enough,” said Chapman. “I ran her back a couple of weeks later under a high claiming tag [$150,00], and she just got beat but should have won that race. I had her on Lasix at the time, and in New York the state administers the dose and it was just too much for her, it kind of made her a little dull. I took her off Lasix for her next start and she just galloped.”

Alydaria showed a new dimension, harnessing her abundant speed and rallying from mid-pack to win at first asking on the grass. She was also back on Lasix for that race.

“In Florida you can monitor how much Lasix you give a horse, so we just don’t give her the full dose and she’s fine,” said Chapman. “I think she’s the kind of horse who, on grass, will rate and eventually go up to a mile once we get these little sprint races out of the way.”

As of Friday, the status of the grass course was up in the air for Sunday, but that is of no concern to Chapman.

“She’s out of a Kingmambo mare and she loves the turf, but she’s already proven she can win on the dirt as well,” said Chapman. “The only problem I have is waiting to decide what kind of shoes to put on her in behind for the race before sending her down from the farm.”

The Madcap Escapade drew a field of eight 3-year-old fillies, including Harbor Mist who is entered for main track only and would obviously benefit from a surface change.

Sabrina’s Dance will seek to avenge her recent neck setback at the hands of Alydaria in their previous meeting on Jan. 19 and is also proven on both turf and dirt.

The speedy Red Hot Doll is already a two-time stakes winner at Fort Erie and has not been headed for the lead in any of her last six starts, although she has never started on grass.

My Due Process is another versatile filly, having easily won the NATC Futurity over a muddy track last summer at Monmouth Park and her maiden by better than five lengths seven weeks earlier on the turf at Saratoga