Ballet Diva Well Spotted in Any Limit

Having faced stars like Cathryn Sophia and Off the Tracks in her past two starts, recently crowned Florida-bred juvenile filly champion Ballet Diva gets a bit of class relief for her next engagement in Saturday’s $75,000 Any Limit at Gulfstream Park.

The third running of the six-furlong Any Limit for 3-year-old fillies is one of three sprint stakes on a 13-race program that includes the $200,000 Inside Information (G2) for females 3 and up and the $75,000 Spectacular Bid for 3-year-olds.

A Jacks or Better Farm homebred trained by Stanley Gold, Ballet Diva earned divisional honors for a 2015 campaign that saw her win four of six starts including three stakes – the Florida Sire Stakes Susan’s Girl, Cassidy and House Party – and $339,675 in purses.

This year, the Hear No Evil filly ran third to Lucy N Ethel in the Old Hat (G3) Jan. 2 and third to Cathryn Sophia in the Forward Gal (G2) Jan. 30. Most recently she set the pace for a half-mile before fading to fourth behind Grade 2 winner Off the Tracks in the Margate Handicap Feb. 21.

“Ballet Diva has been good. Maybe she’s just been overmatched, maybe not. She’s doing good, and there’s no reason not to run her,” Gold said. “She’s been running against some pretty stout company. She’s training good and she breezed good and the race is Saturday. The hard work’s over.”

At Gulfstream, Ballet Diva has three wins and three thirds in eight starts, breaking her maiden last May and winning the Cassidy and Susan’s Girl. Though all three came in gate-to-wire fashion, Gold doesn’t feel the chestnut filly needs the lead to be successful.

“She’s a smart horse and she’s showed that she doesn’t need to be on the lead but when she makes it, that’s ok,” he said. “We had some races where she had a little bit of trouble, where she came out of the gate and she got banged a little and was sideways and dropped back and she made a run.”

Regular rider Jose Caraballo will be aboard from post three at co-highweight of 120 pounds.

Gold will also send out fellow Jacks or Better homebred Silent Prayer in the Any Limit. A bay daughter of Brooks ‘n Down, she has gone winless in nine starts since breaking her maiden in her unveiling last May. She has placed in five stakes, finishing ahead of Ballet Diva in the Florida Sire Stakes Desert Vixen and second to her stablemate in the Susan’s Girl, both at long odds.

Silent Prayer made her 3-year-old debut Feb. 5 at Gulfstream, setting the pace while pressed before tiring to fourth in a six-furlong optional claiming allowance under jockey Elvis Trujillo, who gets a return call from outside post six with 116 pounds.

“She’s been running against some pretty tough open a-other-thans because there’s no Florida-bred race. In the stallion stake she was always right around Ballet Diva. She’s been kind of a disappointment but she’s been training good and we’re going to try her. I think she’ll run good. Last time out she was in a tough allowance race but she ran well.”

Making her first start as a 3-year-old and first on conventional dirt will be Robert Marzilli’s Ontario-bred Caren. The bay daughter of Society’s Chairman is Sovereign Award finalist for Canada’s champion 2-year-old filly after winning five of six starts last year, four of them in stakes over Woodbine’s synthetic surface. Her only loss came to eventual Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) winner Catch a Glimpse in the Natalma (G2) on grass.

“She had six starts [last year], which was plenty,” trainer Michael De Paulo said. “Our main goal is the Canadian Oaks, a mile and an eighth in June in Canada, so this is a good starting point. We’ll get a good race into her and then head on up the road.”

Caren’s wins have come at distances from 4 ½ furlongs to 1 1/16 miles and is unbeaten in two tries at the Any Limit’s six furlongs.

“We’re expecting her to run real well,” De Paulo said. “Ballet Diva is a nice horse, and six [furlongs] is right up her alley. We’re going to make her run.”

Caren will carry jockey Luis Saez and 120 pounds from post five.