Dream Pauline notches first stakes win with Sugar Swirl

Dream Pauline got first run on Stormy Embrace before holding off that rival for her first stakes victory Saturday in the Grade 3, $100,000 Sugar Swirl at Gulfstream Park in South Florida.

Ridden by Javier Castellano, Dream Pauline paid $5.40 as favorite in a field of eight fillies and mares when making just her fourth career start. The 3-year-old Stonestreet Stables homebred was excluded last month from the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

“We thought that highly of her to enter her in the Breeders’ Cup,” trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said. “This is exciting because she’s so well-bred and she’s such a favorite around the barn. She’s a real star to be around and a deserving graded stakes winner.”

Always in a good stalking spot, Dream Pauline went to the lead without being asked once the field straightened for home in the six-furlong Sugar Swirl. Stormy Embrace, 11th in the BC Filly-Mare Sprint, made a sustained outside run under Tyler Gaffalione, only to finish a neck back, with Pacific Gale third and Bronx Beauty fourth. The winning time was 1:11.10 over a sloppy track.

Dream Pauline, a chestnut filly by Tapit, won her first two starts, both in New York, before finishing third in the Nov. 4 Dream Supreme at Churchill when failing to make it off the also-eligibles list for the Filly-Mare Sprint.

Tequilita prevails in Rampart

About an hour earlier, Tequilita ($7.60) got a good trip and persistent ride from Luis Saez when overtaking Tapa Tapa Tapa and finishing 2 1/2 lengths clear of Electric Forest in winning the 40th running of the Grade 3, $100,000 Rampart.

Trained by Michael Matz for his wife, Dee Dee, Tequilita finished the one-mile distance in 1:37.62. It was the second graded win at Gulfstream for the 4-year-old homebred daughter of Union Rags and snapped an eight-race losing streak.

“She broke so sharp,” Saez said. “I thought at the three-eighths pole I was done, but I kept asking her and she gave me the kick.”

Matz said Tequlita will be bred this spring to Street Sense, but might race one more time.