Davona Dale win by Tonalist's Shape extra satisfying for Joseph

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. had every reason to celebrate Tonalist's Shape’s 1 1/4-length victory over the odds-on Spice is Nice in Saturday’s Grade 2 Davona Dale. But in light of events that transpired earlier in the day, this particular win elicited a little extra fist pump from Joseph, who’d spent a trying 72 hours since Wednesday’s post position draw for the Fountain of Youth.

“Yes, winning the race with the filly yesterday [Saturday] was a little extra special after having to scratch Chance It a couple of hours earlier,” Joseph said shortly after working some two dozen horses here on Sunday morning. “It was a tough way to start the day, so to see her win like that was very gratifying.”

Joseph reported that Tonalist’s Shape came out of the Davona Dale in good order, and that she could run next in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks on March 28. The victory was the fifth in as many starts for the 3-year-old daughter of Tonalist, who posted an 87 Beyer Speed Figure for her performance in the one-mile Davona Dale.

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“We knew going into the race she was going to need a big move forward off her last start, and that Todd’s filly was very talented and deserved all the hype she was receiving off her first race,” said Joseph. “But we knew our filly was as good as we could get her, so we were willing to take our chances, and thankfully it worked out. I never expected her to be on the lead coming in, but I know she has a lot of stamina so once she made the lead, I felt very comfortable.”

Joseph said the prestigious Kentucky Oaks “is in the back of our minds” but that he won’t decide for two to three weeks whether he’ll go straight to the race or run Tonalist’s Shape first in the 1 1/16-mile Gulfstream Oaks.

“She got 50 points for winning yesterday and now has 60 points for the [Kentucky] Oaks, and I think that should be enough,” said Joseph.

Joseph also said he has no regrets about his decision to scratch Chance It from the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth as a result of his poor post position draw to await the Tampa Bay Derby on Saturday.

“I know [Ete Indien] won the race from post 10, but that’s one horse cutting across and he didn’t clear by much,” said Joseph. “We would have been in post 11 and two horses cutting across might have been a different story. Obviously the winner ran a big race. Could we have beaten him? I don’t know. But we would have had to run hard to do it.”

Joseph was still seeking to line up a rider for Chance It in the Tampa Bay Derby with Tyler Gaffalione, who was named aboard for the Fountain of Youth, committed to ride at Santa Anita on Saturday.