Impressive debut winners meet in Juvenile Fillies Sprint

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A pair of fleet and promising juvenile fillies who ran off the screen in their debuts, La Gioconda and Bella Cleopatra, will step right into stakes company when squaring off against four more experienced rivals in the $65,000 Juvenile Fillies Sprint for Florida-breds Saturday at Gulfstream Park.

La Gioconda ran to her backing at first asking, overcoming a slow start from the rail to register an impressive seven-length victory over a sloppy track as an even-money favorite on Oct. 13. La Gioconda is trained by Gustavo Delgado, who sent out the filly’s sire Caracaro to finish second in the 2020 Travers, and claimed her dam, French Politics, as a broodmare prospect near the end of her racing career.

“The filly is named after the painting” – La Gioconda is the Italian name for the Mona Lisa – “and is very special to my father since he had both her sire and dam,” said Delgado’s son and assistant Gustavo Delgado Jr. “We had a very nice group of 2-year-olds this year and she was very competitive in the morning with several of them, so being a Florida-bred and running in a restricted race we were very confident going into her first start.

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“Obviously it gets tougher the second time, against winners, but she’s done everything the right way since she ran and should get better with experience. We’re also very happy she didn’t draw the rail for this one.”

Bella Cleopatra flashed plenty of speed while catching a wet track launching her career this summer at Colonial, winning her bow by 6 1/2 lengths despite being taken in hand through the final sixteenth of a mile with the issue no longer in doubt. She was subsequently purchased privately and turned over to George Weaver, who trained her sire, the multiple Grade 1 winner Vekoma.

La Gioconda and Bella Cleopatra will likely be pressed early by Wiggle An’ Wine, who vied for command into the stretch before coming out second best in both the Desert Vixen and Susan’s Girl divisions of the Florida Sire Stakes here this summer.

Volatiled overcame a very eventful trip, rallying from last after steadying quite sharply into the stretch, to win her maiden at second asking and could prove the beneficiary of both a contested pace and the added distance while stretching out to 6 1/2 furlongs for the first time.

The stakes-placed Mrs Worldwide, making her local debut for trainer Brian Lynch, and Valiant Kiss complete the compact lineup.

◗ Delgado reported that the barn’s leading 2-year-old prospect, the multiple Grade 1 placed Ferocious, has returned locally following his troubled fifth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

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“He’ll get a little break before starting back in training for his 3-year-old season,” Delgado said. “We’re thinking about putting blinkers on him for his next start. He still seems immature and to get distracted in his races. That appeared to be the case in the Juvenile when he dropped back to last before coming on again to finish fifth. He’s still a work in progress, but we feel he belongs at the highest level, with the Kentucky Derby the main goal until we see otherwise.”

◗ Victory Avenue, who ran a sensational second in his only previous start here last winter, is also about ready to start breezing again, according to Delgado. Victory Avenue earned a 97 Beyer Figure when runner-up to Speak Easy as the 3-2 favorite launching his career on the Pegasus undercard in January.

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