Ghostly Presence, Dream Awhile win divisions of Tropical Park Oaks

Trainer Roger Attfield was in England Saturday where he was celebrating the holidays with family and friends.

Attfield had even more reason to celebrate Saturday as his Ghostly Presence ran down pace-setting Team of Teams to win the second division of the $75,000 Tropical Park Oaks at Gulfstream Park. In defeating Team of Teams, Ghostly Presence denied Joe Allen, the owner of Team of Teams, a sweep of the split-division Oaks. Dream Awhile, owned and bred by Allen and trained by Chad Brown, won the first division of the Tropical Park Oaks earlier on the card.

The division of the Oaks won by Ghostly Presence was marred by the fatal breakdown of Speighgal, the 5-2 favorite, who clipped heels with a horse in front of her early in the race and broke down and was euthanized on track.

The win by Ghostly Presence continued a rejuvenation of a career that appeared to be floundering early in her 3-year-old season. Ghostly Presence won for the third time in her last five starts, her two losses both coming by a neck. She is 5 for 14 overall.

“As a 2-year-old, she was nice,” Attfield said. “We got her down to Florida and she just didn’t train on, she wasn’t the same filly. I kept saying, I know she’s a nice filly, she just needs some time to come along. Middle of the summer she started to come around. She was training superbly coming into this race; I would have been really disappointed if she hadn’t run well to be honest with you.”

Ghostly Presence benefitted from a ground-saving ride under Rafael Hernandez, who had the filly in third position, about two lengths behind the pace-setting Team of Teams. Under Jose Lezcano, Team of Teams got away with a quarter in 24.28 seconds, a half-mile in 49.58, and six furlongs in 1:14.14.

Team of Teams appeared to spurt away in upper stretch, but Hernandez guided Ghostly Presence off the rail turning for home and she was able to wear down Team of Teams inside the sixteenth pole to win by one length. Team of Teams held second by one length over I’m Betty G.

Ghostly Presence, a daughter of Ghostzapper owned and bred by Chiefswood Stable, covered the 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.79 and returned $10 as the third choice.

In the other division of the Tropical Park Oaks, Dream Awhile rallied five wide turning for home under John Velazquez and she caught Storm the Hill in deep stretch and outfinished Westit to win by three-quarters of a length. Westit finished second by a neck over Storm the Hill.

Dream Awhile was rank early on, tossing her head about while in eighth position. She launched a bid around the far turn and carried her momentum through the lane.

Dream Awhile, trained by Chad Brown, covered the 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.77 and returned $7.40 as the favorite.

“My strategy going into this race was to break well and get a good position and get comfortable with her,” Velazquez said. “All of a sudden everyone started checking back and I got into a little bit of a tight spot going into the first turn and had to pull out of there in between horses on the backstretch. Once I got out [on] the backstretch, she was more controllable. By the half-mile pole I was just looking for space to go through, and by the three-eighths pole I got to the outside and squeezed between two horses and once I got to the quarter pole she was running.”

Daring Duchess steals Via Borghese

Daring Duchess, allowed to dictate a slow pace under Jose Ortiz, pulled off a 13-1 upset in the $75,000 Via Borghese Stakes, defeating the late-running Martini Glass by 1 1/2 lengths.

Breaking from the inside post, Daring Duchess was conceded the lead by Luis Contreras aboard Involuntary and was allowed to set fractions of 24.97 seconds for the quarter, 50.08 for the half-mile, and six furlongs in 1:14.06. After shrugging off a challenge from Involuntary, Daring Duchess opened up and was never threatened in the lane. Martini Glass, who rallied widest of all in the stretch, finished second by a neck over Flipcup.

Daring Duchess, a 5-year-old daughter of Arch owned by Ken and Sarah Ramsey and trained by Mike Maker, covered the 1 3/16 miles in 1:55.21 and returned $28.20 to win.

“She broke well, she was able to get an easy lead and that was key,” said Ortiz, who got his 49th stakes win of the year. “When I asked her to go, she responded very well.”

– additional reporting by Mike Welsch