Tequilita one of the horses to beat in Gulfstream Park Oaks

Overlooked prior to her 14-1 upset of the Forward Gal (G2) six weeks ago, Dorothy Alexander Matz’s homebred filly Tequilita figures to be one of the horses to beat when she returns to Gulfstream Park for Saturday’s $250,000 Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2).

 

The 47th running of the 1 1/16-mile Gulfstream Park Oaks for 3-year-old fillies is one of nine stakes, six graded, worth $2.45 million in purses on the $1 million Xpressbet.com Florida Derby (G1) Day program.

 

Also on Saturday’s card are the $300,000 Honey Fox (G2), $200,000 Pan American (G2), $200,000 Appleton (G3) and $200,000 Orchid (G3) for older horses and $100,000 Cutler Bay and $100,000 Sanibel Island for 3-year-olds on turf, and the $100,000 Sir Shackleton for older sprinters on dirt.

 

Trained by Michael Matz for his wife, Tequilita takes a three-race win streak into the Oaks. She broke her maiden at Keeneland and captured the Smart Halo in her stakes debut at Laurel Park last fall, both as the favorite, and captured the Forward Gal Feb. 4 at Gulfstream in her first race in 11 weeks.

 

“I thought she ran a big race. The big thing is she’s starting to wait and relax. We want to see if we can stretch her out to two turns, which I think she will. After this race we’ll see which way we want to go, if we want to stick to two turns or stay at one turn,” Matz said. “She’s done well and she’s trained well up to this. We’ll just have to see if she can get the two turns.”

 

Given the gap between the end of her 2-year-old campaign and her sophomore debut, Matz opted to skip the one-mile Davona Dale (G2) March 4 at Gulfstream and point for the Oaks. Five of her six career starts have come at seven furlongs or less; the exception being a one-mile maiden special weight in September at Laurel where she was second as the favorite to eventual Grade 1 winner Dancing Rags.

 

“I just thought it would be too much to do all of them that quickly,” Matz said. “We’re just teaching her to relax a little. Her mother could get a mile and I think she can get this. Her father went up to a mile and a half so I think a mile and a sixteenth or a mile and an eighth should be within her reach.”

 

Matz trained Tequlita’s sire, 2012 Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Union Rags, as well as her dam, Sangrita, a Grade 2 winner at one mile. Sangrita was also bred and owned by Matz’s wife.

 

“She has traits of her mother and traits of her father, too,” Matz said. “She gets a little bit of herself from both of them so it’s kind of fun to have something where you know what the father and mother are like and get to see some of both of them.

 

“She’s a horse that was a little green in some things early,” he added. “The race that she ran at Laurel when she ran the mile, she just got the lead too early. She’s a filly that needs to wait a little bit and kind of make one run.”

 

Luis Saez, closing in on his first Championship Meet riding title, has the return call from Post 2. All nine fillies will carry 122 pounds.

Taking aim at the Oaks out of the Davona Dale are Jordan’s Henny, second by a half-length to multiple graded-stakes winner Miss Sky Warrior at odds of 19-1, as well as Modacious and Brahm’s Cat, who ran fourth and fifth, respectively.

 

E. Ervine Woolsey and Ralph Kinder’s Jordan’s Henny, by Grade 1-winning sprinter Henny Hughes, went winless in her first six starts before breaking her maiden going a mile Dec. 18 at Gulfstream. She returned with a solid effort in the Davona Dale where she dueled for the lead throughout but didn’t have enough left to hold off the winner.

 

“We’re very pleased with the way she came out of the last race. The filly thinks she won,” trainer Mike Tomlinson said. “She came back bouncing and having a good time. Unless something changes, we expect a good race out of her.”

 

Cash is King and LC Racing’s Modacious was making just her third career start, first in a stakes and first beyond 6 ½ furlongs in the Davona Dale. She was up among the early leaders, stuck her head in front after six furlongs but weakened to fourth, beaten four lengths.

 

“She was a little tired coming out of that race. It was her first time going a mile and we’ve had a full month since then and got two nice breezes in her,” trainer Robert E. “Butch” Reid Jr. said. “We’re really not looking beyond this point. We want to get her stretched out around two turns which will serve us well in this race. She’s doing well and we’re looking forward to a good race.”

 

The Oaks field includes a pair of fillies from trainer Mark Casse, Salty and Summer Luck. Salty is coming off a 2 ½-length maiden triumph March 5 at Gulfstream, while Summer Luck will be making her fourth start of the Championship Meet after finishing third in the Old Hat and Davona Dale and fourth in the Forward Gal.

 

Repole Stable’s Nonna Bella, undefeated in two starts this winter at Gulfstream, is entered to make her stakes debut for trainer Todd Pletcher. The Stay Thirsty filly beat Salty by a neck in her debut Feb. 4 and came back with a length victory in a seven-furlong optional claiming allowance March 10.