Dancing House Looking to Break Through in Tropical Park Oaks

Despite having only raced six times in her two-year race career, Godolphin Racing’s Dancing House has accomplished much and shown a great deal of versatility.

Wins on both dirt and turf. Graded stakes placings. A start in the Breeders’ Cup.

But one thing has alluded her - something that trainer Kiaran McLaughlin hopes she can attain in Saturday’s $75,000 Tropical Park Oaks – and that is a stakes win.

“We’re trying to win a stake,” McLaughlin said. “She has graded black type seconds and thirds, but we’re trying to win a stake.”

Dancing House, a 3-year-old grey/roan filly by Tapit, began her career on the main track as a 2-year-old with a victory at Saratoga in July of last year. She then immediately stepped up to Grade 1 competition in the Spinaway Stakes, a race in which she finished third. While the filly was a proven commodity on dirt, her connections recognized her potential on grass (She is a daughter of the Grade 1-winning turf specialist Tout Charmant, who was the runner-up in the 2000 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf), and a surface switch was imminent. She ran third in her grass debut in the Miss Grillo Stakes (G3) at Belmont before contesting the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Filly Turf (G1), where she was fifth, but after that she went to the sidelines. She would not return to the races for 10 months.

“She had a chip removed from her ankle, and so she needed some time off, but she’s come back very well and has run well twice, and we hope she keeps going,” McLaughlin said.

In her only two starts of 2014, Dancing House ran second in an allowance at Belmont Park before winning her most recent effort, an allowance at Keeneland on October 24. She has since trained up to the Tropical Park Oaks, most recently breezing four furlongs in 49.45 seconds on December 12 at Palm Meadows.

“She’s doing very well,” McLaughlin said. “She worked nicely and she continues to train well, so we’re excited to have her run down here. (Jockey) Irad Ortiz is coming down, because there’s a break in New York, and he will ride her.”

Another filly looking for her first stakes win – at least, in the United States – is Sandiva (IRE) from the Todd Pletcher stable. Prior to coming overseas, the daughter of Footstepsinthesand won two Group 3 stakes and contested the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot. She finished seventh in an allowance at Del Mar in her North American debut before joining Pletcher’s string toward the end of the summer.

“We were fortunate enough that (owners) Al Shaqab sent her over to us,” Pletcher said. “She’s a filly that’s been training well. Her last two races were actually better than they look on paper. We’re hoping for a good effort from her. She’s been breezing very well at Palm Beach Downs and acts like she’s coming up to the race in really good shape.”

In Sandiva’s two starts for Pletcher, she ran fourth in the Pebbles Stakes at Belmont in October before contesting the Mrs. Revere Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs, her most recent start. In that race, she was forced to swing out wide and close from the six-path, where she rallied to be fifth. There may have been four horses ahead of her, but she was only a length away from the place.

“[The Tropical Park Oaks] is kind of the last opportunity to run against straight 3-year-old fillies, so we wanted to take advantage of that,” Pletcher said. “I think her race at Churchill was actually better than it appeared. She might have been second-best that day.”

Granny’s McKitten will be returning from a layoff for trainer Chad Brown in the Tropical Park Oaks. Granny’s McKitten, a 3-year-old daughter of Kitten’s Joy who like Dancing House contested last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Filly Turf (She finished 12th), has not run since August, when she was third in the Riskaverse Stakes at Saratoga.

“She ran well (in the Riskaverse),” Brown said. “We were disappointed she didn’t win. She came out of the race with a couple little setbacks, and they kind of lingered during the fall, and I just wasn’t able to get her in the races I wanted to, so this will be an important race for her to get back on track.”

Other probables for the Tropical Park Oaks include: the Wayne Catalano-trained Black Elegance (IRE), third in the Christiana Stakes at Delaware in July; fellow Irish-bred Photo Call, who won her North American debut when she took an October allowance at Keeneland by 3 ½ lengths; and Save the Park, a winner of three in a row at Woodbine. While not yet confirmed for the race, Daring Kathy, winner of last month’s My Charmer (G3) at Gulfstream Park West who is undefeated on turf in South Florida, is also under consideration.

Source: Gulfstream Park Communications