Dazzling Dame, a two-time stakes winner in the Mid-Atlantic region, takes her talents to Aqueduct for Saturday’s $150,000 Busanda Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. The Busanda, run at 1 1/8 miles since 2018 – and around two turns on the now-defunct inner track before that – is now run as a one-turn mile. It was moved up on the calendar by about two weeks but offers 42 qualifying points (20-10-6-4-2) to the May 1 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs. Dazzling Dame, a Maryland-bred daughter of Girvin, won a pair of two-turn mile stakes in the Sorority at Monmouth Park in August and the White Clay Creek Stakes at Delaware Park on Nov. 11. She was scratched from the Gin Talking Stakes at Laurel Park last weekend by trainer Brittany Russell, who won that race anyway with Peach Tie in what was a three-horse field. Dazzling Dame was game in the White Clay Creek, putting away one pace challenge from Miss Call and then fending off another stretch challenge from Jumping the Gun. “There were a few moments where I thought, ‘Oh no, she’s beat,’ ” Russell said. “She’s just tough. We’ve been fond of her from the beginning. She’s a really big, lanky filly. She’s trains good and I think she’ll run her race for sure.” :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Dazzling Dame’s lone defeat from four starts came in the Grade 3 Pocahontas Stakes at Churchill where she was a bit keen early on. Russell said Dazzling Dame didn’t ship great to Churchill. “It was sort of all related to the shipping,” Russell said. “I think we have her doing better now.” Jevian Toledo, 2 for 2 on Dazzling Dame, has the call from post 5. Britain, a New York-bred daughter of Quality Road who brought $1.05 million at the OBS March 2-year-old in training sale, won a seven-furlong maiden race in her second career start. In that Nov. 20 race, Britain sat an inside trip, came off the rail in upper stretch and ran by the leaders to score by two lengths over Interstatelovesong, who came back to win her maiden by five lengths on Dec. 26. Trainer Chad Brown said Britain “always trained like a nice prospect, moved forward quite a bit in her second start mentally. The added distance should help.” Brown said it was a last-minute decision to run Britain, which is why Manny Franco is riding and not Flavien Prat, the latter being committed to Believable. In her debut, Britain finished third behind Shilling, who came back to win the one-mile Tempted Stakes, both victories coming in front-running fashion. Shilling cuts back to one mile in the Busanda after finishing a well-beaten fourth behind Zany in the Grade 2 Demoiselle, run at 1 1/8 miles. Believable, second to Shilling in the Tempted, finished fifth in the Demoiselle. Two Bits, fourth behind Dazzling Dame in the White Clay Creek, came back to win her maiden by 1 3/4 lengths going a mile on Nov. 29. Midnite Ginny, a debut winner at Monmouth on Sept. 14, completes the field. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.