Starship Nala looks golden if feature is switched to dirt

MIAMI – On paper, Starship Nala looks like a decided outsider in Friday’s $44,000 allowance feature at Gulfstream Park West. But if the weather continues to do what it has been doing locally of late, rain and rain hard on a regular basis, Starship Nala could find herself with a distinct advantage in the headliner, carded at 7 1/2 furlongs on the turf, should it be moved to the main track, as so many grass races have been here over the past couple of weeks.

Of the seven fillies and mares entered in the race, Starship Nala is the only one with a win on dirt. In fact the 4-year-old Starship Nala has registered all three of her career victories on dirt while having finished off the board in her only two previous tries on the grass.

Starship Nala has been lightly raced since posting back-to-back allowance victories going six furlongs early in her 3-year-old campaign She has missed plenty of time since then, returning off another lengthy hiatus to finish far back after a troubled start over the main track here on Oct. 4.

Starship Nala is a half-sister to the multiple Grade 1-winning, $2 million-earning turf specialist Starship Jubilee, which is one reason her trainer, Steve Dwoskin, still has high hopes for her on the grass.

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“We’re tried her a couple of times short on the turf, but the thinking is stretching her to seven and a half would be good for her,” said Dwoskin. “But obviously the way this race came up, turf or dirt would be good. She’s had some issues over the years, nothing major, but she’s doing well now. She got bothered badly at the start last time. Hopefully with a little more luck, and with the way she’s been training lately, she can start getting back to her old form.”

The remainder of the field has little or no experience at all on dirt, with only Fujairah having shown some affinity for the main track, with a pair of seconds and a third on her résumé in seven tries, the best of which was a runner-up finish in the five-furlong Blue Sparkler Stakes earlier this season at Monmouth Park.

Should the race go as scheduled on the grass, the field will have a familiar look to it with Bienville Street, Makeme Dream, Great Sister Diane, Picara, and Crown and Sugar all having crossed paths several times in the past.

Picara defeated much the same bunch over this course a year ago in the Sunshine Millions Turf Preview but has gone winless in six subsequent starts. Great Sister Diane is likewise on a long losing streak, nine straight races, since upsetting the 2019 Monroe Stakes 14 months earlier. The same holds true for Bienville Street, who did finish second, beaten only a neck, by Always Shopping in this year’s edition of the Monroe but is without a visit to the winner’s circle since August 2018.

Crown and Sugar, fourth after setting the pace in the Monroe, is the only member of the lineup aside from Fujairah with a victory in 2020, having captured a $25,000 starter race over the Tampa Bay Downs turf course in her seasonal bow on Jan. 17.

◗ Friday’s co-featured eighth race, a $38,000 allowance dash for statebreds to be run at six furlongs, is carded on the dirt, with R Mercedes Boy, perfect in two starts over this track; the once beaten 3-year-old Man of Vision; and Septemberten the leading contenders.