La Cara made a strong 3-year-old debut Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs, taking advantage of a heady ride by Dylan Davis and a bad start from race favorite Her Laugh to secure a front-running, 6 1/4-length victory in the $100,000 Suncoast Stakes. Her Laugh, who threw her head at the break and was off three lengths last, did well to finish second by 1 1/4 lengths over Deloraine. The victory was the third from her last four starts for La Cara, who ended her 2-year-old campaign with a fifth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies last November. “I was so disappointed with her in the Breeders’ Cup,”  Mark Casse, the trainer of La Cara, said in a post-race interview broadcast on America’s Day at the Races. “I really thought we had a shot. She didn’t show up.” La Cara certainly showed up in the Suncoast. Davis, who was riding the filly for the first time, put La Cara on the lead through a quarter in 24.03 seconds and a half-mile in 47.08 with Junta, a maiden winner on debut, in pursuit. La Cara left Junta after six furlongs in 1:11.54 and La Cara came into the stretch with a clear advantage, one she widened without much difficulty through the stretch. :: Bet with the Best! Get FREE All-Access PPs and Weekly Cashback when you wager on DRF Bets. La Cara, a daughter of Street Sense owned and bred by Tracy Farmer, covered the one mile, 40 yards in 1:38.51 and returned $9.20 as the second choice. “She could come from off the pace or win on the lead, I decided on what to do based on the break,” Davis said in a post-race interview broadcast on the Tampa Bay simulcast. “She broke very well, I was able to establish the early lead. After that I got into a rhythm. I waited until the stretch to give her her cue and she picked it up. It was an incredible feeling. I looked back for the competition and they were nowhere to be found.” Prior to her Breeders’ Cup no-show last fall, La Cara won the Grade 3 Pocahontas Stakes at Churchill Downs from off the pace after she won her maiden at Saratoga on the lead. “That’s what’s so great about her, she’s so versatile,” Casse said. “Different horse today. You could see in the Breeders’ Cup from the beginning she struggled. Today, she was all business.” La Cara earned 20 qualifying points for the Kentucky Oaks and now has 33 points overall. Though Her Laugh suffered her first defeat in three starts, trainer Whit Beckman was encouraged by the effort. “It was a rough start for sure, but it was probably her most productive start to date,” Beckman said. “She closed a ton of ground and did it with relative ease and then galloped out very well. I'm happy with her effort." Pelican Nutella Fella, the Grade 1 Hopeful winner of 2023, returned to the winner’s circle Saturday, rallying along the rail under Junior Alvarado and outlasting Caramel Chip to win the $100,000 Pelican Stakes by a neck. Caramel Chip was a head better than Life Is Precious. Initially part of a five-horse scramble for the lead, Nutella Fella was taken back off the pace by Alvarado while Caramel Chip, Pure Class and Dreaming of Kona kept on through a half-mile in 45.43 seconds. Approaching the top of the lane, Alvarado appeared to want to go outside, but he quickly reversed course and drove Nutella Fella down to the rail. Though there appeared to be ample room, Nutella Fella was somewhat hesitant to go through, but ultimately did, outfinishing Caramel Chip and Life Is Precious. In several of his previous starts, Nutella Fella had not gotten away from the gate well. He broke extremely sharp Saturday before Alvarado decided not to get embroiled in a speed duel. Approaching the head of the lane, it appeared as though Alvarado didn’t have any place to go, which made for some anxious moments for trainer Gary Contessa. “I was absolutely going into heart arrhythmia at the top of the stretch because he was all dressed up with no place to go,” Contessa said in a post-race interview broadcast on the Tampa simulcast feed. “Junior showed what a quality rider he is, he found that little opening along the inside and the horse delivered, so it was good to see.” Nutella Fella, a 4-year-old son of Runhappy, covered the six furlongs in 1:09.47 and returned $3.60 as the odds-on favorite. Contessa said that he and the owners, Nick and Delora Beaver, who race as Bell Gable Stables, are hoping Nutella Fella receives an invite for the Dubai Golden Shaheen on April 5 in Meydan. If he doesn’t receive an invite to Dubai, Contessa said the Carter at Aqueduct on the same day would be his next start. Minaret Nic’s Style improved her record to 6 for 7 with a strong late rally under Alvarado to win the $92,500 Minaret Stakes by a nose over Dazzling Blue. It was 2 1/2 lengths back to Ruthless Rua in third. Nic’s Style was coming off a 2 1/2-length victory in the City of Marion Stakes at Tampa, a race in which Alvarado felt Nic’s Style was struggling with the racetrack and won on class. Nic’s Style was entered in the Grade 2 Inside Information Stakes at Gulfstream on Jan. 25, but scratched after developing an illness, according to trainer Bill Mott. Nic’s Style recovered in time to get a workout in at Payson Park that was obviously enough to have her ready for the Minaret. Dazzling Blue, with blinkers and Flavien Prat on, shot to the front and set fractions of 22.07 seconds for the quarter and 44.71 for the half with Ruthless Rua in close pursuit. Dazzling Blue opened up a two-length advantage by midstretch, but Nic’s Style kept coming and got up in the final strides. Nic’s Style, a 5-year-old Florida-bred daughter of Uncaptured owned by Stephen Rousseau, covered the six furlongs in 1:09.16 and returned $3.20 to win. Nic’s Style’s only loss in seven starts was a second-place finish to Ways and Means in the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom at Aqueduct last September. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.