Pegasus Filly and Mare Turf: Shantisara favored to regain best form
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Daylight was getting scarce when the final race of Breeders’ Cup Saturday was run last November at Keeneland. Little did anyone suspect that, 12 weeks later, the Fall Harvest would be a key common race toward the Pegasus Filly and Mare Turf.
Wakanaka was a last-to-first winner of the Fall Harvest – which was held in the afterglow of Flightline dominating the BC Classic – while the two favorites, Shantisara and Dalika, struggled down the stretch when finishing fifth and sixth, respectively, in a field of six. Whether or not Shantisara and/or Dalika can overturn the results of the Fall Harvest is the main story line when they all reconvene Saturday in the Grade 3, $500,000 Pegasus Filly and Mare Turf at Gulfstream Park.
Shantisara, with Irad Ortiz Jr. riding from post 9, is the 2-1 morning-line favorite in a field of eight in the 1 1/16-mile Filly and Mare Turf, with Dalika the 7-2 second choice.
Meanwhile, the Bill Mott-trained Wakanaka will have Joel Rosario aboard from post 3 as the 10-1 fifth choice, behind Queen Goddess (5-1) and Lady Rockstar (8-1).
“Those odds might actually be deserved because I don’t think those other two horses ran their race on Breeders’ Cup Day,” said Barry Irwin, whose Team Valor partnership co-owns Wakanaka with Gary Barber. “Plus we’ve had some things going on in the meantime. We flew her from Churchill Downs to California for the [Dec. 4] Matriarch but weren’t allowed to run because of the Churchill quarantine situation [which began Nov. 28], so she actually wound up missing a couple of weeks of training. I’d love to see our mare run another big race, but she’s going to have to show us she’s still on top of her game.”
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Shantisara, an Irish-bred 5-year-old owned by Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, and Robert LaPenta, will be looking to keep trainer Chad Brown perfect in this race. Brown won the inaugural Filly and Mare Turf last January for Peter Brant with odds-on Regal Glory.
“I’m not sure what happened at Keeneland with Shantisara,” Brown said. “After that, I decided to freshen her up and just draw a line through it and start over.”
Shantisara has flashed occasional brilliance in winning 3 of 6 starts in the United States after starting off with five races in France. She earned a 100 Beyer Speed Figure in ending 2021 with a five-length romp in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup and a 102 when starting 2022 with a runner-up finish behind Regal Glory last April in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley, both on the Keeneland turf.
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Unlike with Regal Glory, whose racing career hinged on her performance in the 2022 Pegasus Filly and Mare Turf, “we plan on racing Shantisara all year,” Brown said. Regal Glory was kept in training after dominating this race and proceeded to win three more Grade 1s prior to her recent retirement.
Dalika (post 2, Brian Hernandez Jr.) gets a mulligan for her Keeneland dud mostly because “she’s never really liked the turf there at Keeneland,” said her trainer, Al Stall Jr. “Hopefully, the Gulfstream surface will be like Churchill or Kentucky Downs and she’ll really take to it and dig in.”
Dalika, a German-bred who has earned the bulk of $1.4 million for the Bal Mar Equine of retired Brown-Forman CEO Paul Varga, has shown throughout a 31-race career that she wants to be on or near the lead. There’s no reason to believe that won’t be the case Saturday.
“We’ll let Brian play it by ear,” Stall said. “She’s won from off it before, but obviously speed is her strength.”
Stall and Varga have reveled in all the ups and downs they’ve experienced the last four years with Dalika, a gray 7-year-old who made her first U.S. start in May 2019.
“This is our swan song with her,” Stall said. “She owes us absolutely zero. We’d love to see her go out on a high note.”
Queen Goddess (post 6, Luis Saez) is another likely pace factor when turning back slightly in distance four weeks after a front-running score in the Grade 3 Robert Frankel on the Santa Anita turf. Michael McCarthy, who won the Pegasus World Cup with City of Light four years ago when it had a $9 million purse, trains Queen Goddess for Eclipse Thoroughbreds and Barber.
Lady Rockstar (post 7, Tyler Gaffalione) is a 5-year-old Frankel mare on the upswing for Brendan Walsh. As with Shantisara and Wakanaka, her best result would likely come with a late rally after rating off the early pace.
Completing the field are Artie’s Princess, Sweet Enough, and Justify My Love. Mona Stella, Bay Storm, and Perseverancia have been scratched.
The Filly and Mare Turf is the first of the three Pegasus events. It goes as race 11 of 13, with post time set for 4:06 p.m. Eastern.
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