Kentucky Oaks prep: La Cara sets stakes record in Suncoast
Trainer Mark Casse’s 3-year-old filly La Cara set a stakes-record time of 1:38.51 with Dylan Davis aboard in her $150,000, mile-and-40-yard Suncoast tour de force Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs.
She finished 6 1/4 lengths ahead of Her Laugh, who overcame a hop at the start to gain the place. Deloraine finished third, Italian Soiree fourth and Dancing Magic fifth in the field of eight 3-year-old fillies. For those top five finishers, the race was worth 20-10-6-4-2 points toward qualifying for the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks on May 2 at Churchill Downs.
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La Cara lowered Nest’s previous stakes mark, set in 2022, by 0.79 seconds.
Owned by her breeder Tracy Farmer, La Cara is 3-for-7 including the Grade Pocahontas (G3) at Churchill Downs in September. Casse said the convincing victory basically will make him forget a puzzling fifth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Nov. 1 at Del Mar.
“I was disappointed in her at the Breeders’ Cup. I felt going in she had a legitimate chance, and she just spun her wheels,” Casse said. “She came back training really well, and our gang at Palm Meadows, Nick Tomlinson and crew, did a great job with her. Her last few works have been really good.
“I was expecting a good effort, but this was beyond my expectations. The Farmers have been so good to us. This is a homebred, and I trained her mom (Cara Caterina), who could not outrun you or I. La Cara is her first foal, but she has a tremendous pedigree, so (the racetrack gene) skipped a generation.”
Davis, who was riding La Cara for the first time, had that look after the race a lot of kids sport after their first time on a Disney ride.
“It was very impressive. I was working with her at Palm Meadows her last few works, and she is a very classy filly,” Davis said. “I just let her decide what she wanted to do. She can come off the pace or be on the lead, and she broke very aggressively and wanted to establish dominance going into the first turn. I was able to go with it, and she got very comfortable.
“I asked her around the bend, and she picked up very nicely. I took a peek back at the eighth pole and no competition, so I was able to take care of her at that point. She is capable of anything, and we’ll have Mark decide where she goes to next.”
La Cara, who was sired by 2007 Tampa Bay Derby and Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense, paid $9.20 to win as the third betting choice in the eight-horse field.