Stall thinks Dalika will handle 12 furlongs in Bewitch

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Al Stall Jr. isn’t sure Dalika can handle the three-turn distance of the closing-day Bewitch Stakes at Keeneland, but he suspects she’ll be just fine.

“Maybe she’ll be able to lope around there with her ears pricked, loving it all the way,” said Stall. “We’re very interested to see what the added ground does for her.”

Dalika, with Miguel Mena riding from post 7, is one of 12 fillies and mares in the Grade 3, $150,000 Bewitch, a 1 1/2-mile turf fixture that helps close another eventful Keeneland spring meet as the ninth of 10 races Friday. First post is 1:05 p.m. Eastern, with the feature going at 5:30.

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Dalika, a German-bred 5-year-old owned by the Bal Mar Equine of retired Brown-Forman CEO Paul Varga, competed in turf sprints last spring and summer before Stall began stretching her out. The gray mare won three of those six races, ranging from a mile to 1 1/16 miles, and now Stall feels compelled to go a step further in trying this marathon distance.

“She’s got that German pedigree, which to me suggests she has plenty of stamina, and there’s a good possibility the going could be soft, too, which I think she’ll like,” said Stall. Indeed, turf racing was moved to the main track Wednesday after a rare late-April snow blanketed the Keeneland campus overnight. Temperatures were expected to gradually rise toward more seasonable levels by Friday, when mostly sunny skies and a high near 60 are in the forecast.

While Dalika surely will be prominent through the early stages of the 59th Bewitch, she probably won’t be allowed to steal off on soft fractions. That’s because at least a couple of her opponents should show pace, too, those being Three Flamingos (post 3, Brian Hernandez Jr.) and Dominga (post 4, Florent Geroux), both also out of shorter races.

If the front-runners can’t hold, then this could fall any number of ways. Chad Brown steps in with a German-bred of his own in Kalifornia Queen (post 6, Tyler Gaffalione), who stands to benefit from her stateside debut at Gulfstream Park in the Feb. 27 The Very One, a race won gate to wire by Antoinette.

Other proven stretch runners include the uncoupled Bill Mott pair of War Like Goddess (post 8, Julien Leparoux), a last-gasp winner of the Grade 3 Orchid at Gulfstream last month, and Delta’s Kingdom (post 2, Luis Saez), a steady performer whose 18 starts have netted just two wins but a combined nine seconds and thirds. Also, Pass the Plate (post 5, Rafael Bejarano) has shown herself capable of closing effectively, including in her maiden win over the local course and in the Pago Hop at Fair Grounds in December.

One handicapping angle perhaps worth considering because Lasix usage is not permitted in Keeneland stakes is that neither of the Mott horses raced on the bleeder medication at Gulfstream, while neither Kalifornia Queen nor longshot Cambeliza (post 1, Hector Diaz Jr.) have ever raced on Lasix.

Besides the Bewitch, other offerings on this last of 15 spring programs include two allowances (races 5 and 7) and four maiden-specials (races 1, 2, 3, 8). Racing on the Kentucky circuit moves Saturday evening to Churchill Downs with a night card to kick off the spring meet.