Ballerina d’Oro noses Early On in Gazelle, clinches spot in Kentucky Oaks
?q=100)
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Ballerina d’Oro overcame her own erratic running to prevail by a nose over Early On in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Gazelle Stakes at Aqueduct and earned a spot in the starting gate for the $1.5 million Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 2.
Sitting fourth behind a three-ply pace battle, Ballerina d’Oro, under Dylan Davis, tipped four wide for the stretch drive. As she passed the duo of Early On and Deloraine - Vanilla Sundae had dropped out of it by the quarter pole - Ballerina d’Oro began to lug in and cut in front of Deloraine.
Davis did a good job of keeping Ballerina d’Oro off of Early On, under Javier Castellano, and eventually he was able to straighten his filly out in time to get past Early On. Early On finished 5 3/4 lengths clear of third-place finisher Deloraine.
Davis had ridden Ballerina d’Oro in last December’s Grade 2 Demoiselle, in which she lugged in during the stretch and finished second to Muhimma. Davis said he purposely brought Ballerina d’Oro four paths wide turning for home hoping to have some space to get his filly to change leads.
“She didn’t switch, I lost a lot of momentum,” Davis said. “I thought she would have won by a few lengths at least. Once she switched over, she was able to regain what she was trying to get and prevail.”
Ballerina d’Oro, a daughter of Medaglia d’Oro owned by Rodeo Creek Racing, covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.67 (79 Beyer Speed Figure) and returned $3.40 to win.
Ballerina d’Oro earned 100 qualifying points to get into the Oaks field, but trainer Chad Brown knows she will have to run more professional to be a player in that race.
“In a perfect world I would have loved her to gallop through the lane geared down and feel like I have one of the main contenders for the Oaks,” Brown said. “On the other hand, this horse is inexperienced. She missed some training when she missed the Rachel Alexandra [in February]. I rushed her to the [Davona Dale, where she finished third]. I’m not sure how much she got out of that race. This race she’ll get a lot out of, so maybe she needed it.”
There was no inquiry or objection into the stretch. Javier Castellano, the rider of Early On, said while things did tighten up a little but, “we didn’t touch. Actually my horse took off again when she saw her coming and she ran pretty well.”
Early On, trained by Saffie Joseph Jr. for a partnership led by C2 Racing, has 75 points toward the Oaks, more than enough to get in should they elect to run there.
Following Deloraine in the order of finish were Vanilla Sundae, Pure Beauty and Diriyah. Late Nite Call and Liam in the Dust scratched.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.