Sweet Dani Girl takes Sunshine Filly and Mare Turf for Clément

Making her first start for trainer Christophe Clément, Sweet Dani Girl shook free of traffic at the top of the stretch to prevail in Sunday’s $75,000 Sunshine Filly and Mare Turf at Gulfstream Park.

Purchased for $350,000 at the Fasig-Tipton November sale, the 5-year-old daughter of Jess’s Dream was favored at 1-5 in the mile turf stakes for Florida-bred older fillies and mares.

Sweet Dani Girl, who captured last year’s running for trainer Carlo Vaccarezza after setting the pace, was outsprinted for the lead by Baby Steps and was locked down on the inside around the first turn and along the backstretch. After being steadied a couple times, Sweet Dani Girl and Irad Ortiz Jr. found room at the top of the stretch, and the odds-on favorite kicked in to prevail by 1 1/2 lengths over Baby Steps.

“I saved ground into the first turn of the race and the pace slowed down a little more than what I wanted on the backside, but she was handling it. She was waiting for me,” Ortiz said. “I see a hole inside and kind of like go forward and she responded. We cut the corner and followed the horse on the lead, then I tip her out and she was finishing very nice.”

Sweet Dani Girl, who ran the mile on turf in 1:35.25, is owned by Michael Dubb, Steven Bouchey, New Phoenix Stable and America’s Pastimes Stables.

“She’s trained well. There was a small question mark because there was a lot of speed in the race, and she’s been winning with another trainer on the lead,” Clément said. “Irad did a great job, and she was the best horse today.”

Clément said multiple graded-stakes winning Sweet Dani Girl would be pointed to a stakes for Florida-breds at Tampa Bay Downs before returning to open stakes company late in the winter-spring meet at Gulfstream.