The Davona Dale Stakes – Grade II
$200.000 For Fillies Three Years Old
1 Mile – Dirt
Gulfstream Park – February 28, 2026
Sometimes HRP really does mirror real world racing. It seems that, like in the real world, HRP owners and trainers are most strongly motivated by two things – new two-year-olds and three-year-olds in the Spring. The two are not mutually exclusive. Behind the excitement of two-year-olds is the hope that you will have some skin in the game with your three-year-olds the following Spring leading up to the classics at Churchill Downs the first Saturday in May. When the sun sets on Gulfstream Park on Saturday it will also be setting on the month of February leaving just two scant months of racing to even qualify for the big races. The season still feels new yet two months have flown by making the Kentucky Oaks qualifying points being offered in the Grade 2 Davona Dale Stakes even more important to most entrants than the $200.000 purse and the prestigious black type. It is not quite yet crunch time but it is getting there. The race has drawn a full field of twelve hoping to come home with the coveted loot. With the forecast for Saturday currently showing an almost 50% chance of rain we have to consider that in our overview of the field:
1. Exciting (Maxmillion Farm/S. X. Bridgmohan) Was recently offered up for sale for $3,000.000 in a package deal with stablemate Reciprocal Rubber who sits in second as of today for qualifying for the Kentucky Derby. She remains in the Maxmillion barn for the moment. She currently does not have any points to qualify for the Oaks, but she comes into her graded stakes debut with an impressive four straight wins from her five starts. She is a stakes winner having won the CA-bred Generous Portion Stakes at Del Mar last summer. She also proved she can handle an off track in her last start. Her talent is evident and she draws the rail. It is her seasonal debut, and we will get a chance to see how she has made that critical transition from two years old to three. She has all the earmarks of being potentially at the top of her class.
2. Top Nurse (Our Athletes/A. Achard) Currently twenty-sixth in KYO qualifying standings with 10 points. She has been in the money in six of her seven starts and is a stakes winner having won the Myrtlewood at Keeneland in October. She also has proven herself in graded company having placed second in the G3 Forward Gal in her first start as a three-year-old. If the track comes up wet on Saturday it will not bother her and might even move her forward as she has not finished worse than second in her three races on off tracks. She also finished second in the lucrative Untappable Stakes at Kentucky Downs so she seemingly would run on glass if you asked her to.
3. Boardwalk Princess (C And C Racing/T. Gaffalione) She was a golden needle in a haystack when she was picked up at auction for the bargain price of $5.130. She won three of her four starts as a two-year-old including a stakes win in the Arnaz Stakes last November at Del Mar. She was a fast closing sixth in her three-year-old debut when she finished sixth in the Santa Ynez Stakes which was won by Grecia Tieta who is also in today’s race. Boardwalk Princess was only a length off of the winner that day, but she gets an extra furlong to work with today although she is again faced with a large field to work her way through if she chooses to employ the closing tactics that she has found success with before. Her one start on a wet track was a sixth-place finish but that was also her career debut so throw that out. Makes her graded stakes debut.
4. Ontario Pharmacist (Williams9/A. Jimenez) Currently eighth in KYO qualifying standings with 20 points. The leader in the field in terms of her standings in the race to get into the gate for the Oaks. She is also the only filly in the field who is nominated to the Triple Crown, so it is obvious her trainer holds her in very high regard. That high regard is understandable when you look at the record to date of the Williams9 homebred. She is a graded stakes winner having taken the G2 Oak Leaf by three impressive lengths at the prestigious Del Mar summer meeting. She has never raced on an off track, and she also shows inconsistency in her running line. She has somewhat of a good race/bad race pattern, but the good news is that the Davona Dale finds her ready to run a good one if that pattern holds.
5. Santorini (Riggins Racing/J.R. Velasquez) Currently thirteenth in KYO qualifying standings with 19 points. She might be behind Ontario Pharmacist when it comes to Oaks points, but her record is stellar and shows more consistency than that rival. After finishing third in her debut she reeled off four straight wins in her two year old season including the G1 Frizette. She ended her season with a third in the BC Juvenile Fillies just missing by a neck. She was put away for the winter after the BC and made her three year old debut a month ago in the Martha Washington at Oaklawn Park where she disappointed by finishing a non-threatening eighth. She made up a little bit of ground in the stretch but really had no obvious excuse. Oaklawn Park is kryptonite for some horses for some reason so considering that and her past accomplishments throw that out and expect her second start in 2026 to be a return to form.
6. Grecia Tieta (Waldo/J. NavMarin) Currently twenty-eighth in KYO qualifying standings with 10 points. The most lightly raced filly in the field with only three career starts. Three starts but she has won two straight since her debut. Her last start was a win in the Santa Ynez where she picked up her ten KYO points. The Waldo homebred daughter of Wii will get a test today both in class and distance. It is her first graded stakes attempt, and it will also be the first time for her to stretch out to a mile. She has added distance in each start and her last win was at seven furlongs and she will now be asked to carry her speed an extra eighth of a mile. She is working well and has the tactical speed to be dangerous on the front end which is where she likes to be.
7. Zifi (Mb Stables/R. Santana Jr.) Currently sixty-third in KYO qualifying standings with 1 point. Was brought into the fold of the Mb juggernaut hive when purchased for $140.000 from breeder La Canada Racehorses at the end of last summer. She won The Maid of the Mist for NY Breds in her second start for her new barn and followed that up with a win in the $500.000 NY Stallion Series – Fifth Avenue also for NY Breds. She showed some early foot in her three-year-old debut in the Martha Washington at Oaklawn Park before fading to seventh place. We offer the same commentary about Oaklawn for Zifi as we offered for Santorini. The track may not have been to her liking, but we do know she can handle an off track if it rains since she won the Fifth Avenue in the mud at Aqueduct. Look for her to rebound.
8. Hot Story (The Sidley Stud/P. Lopez) The first of two entries from The Sidley Stud. Lightly raced with four starts on her resume. She just missed in a sharp debut but then won two straight races including becoming a stakes winner in the Glorious Song Stakes at Woodbine. She came back three weeks after that stakes win and ran a disappointing seventh in the G3 Mazarine BC Stakes. She was put on the shelf for the winter after that and comes back now nearly four months later to make her three-year-old debut. It remains to be seen what kind of form she brings crossing over from two to three, but her works are very fast, so you have to assume she is sharp and the break has done her good.
9. Midnight Hurricane (Aer Stables/J. Alvarado) Another lightly raced filly with four starts to her credit. She was purchased at auction for a hefty $233.000 before ever even entering the starting gate. The faith in her seemed to be justified when she won her second outing in a high level MSW at Aqueduct in October. She gave stakes company a try following that win when she finished seventh in the Untappable at the Fair Grounds. That was her first route, and it was a big field of twelve and she was making up some ground late in that race. You can give her a pass for those reasons. However, she then followed that up with another disappointing effort by finishing eleventh in the G3 Forward Gal but that was on an off track. I would be willing to give her another chance given the wet conditions but with it looking like rain is likely again for the Davona Dale, it makes her a hard one to pick. Her works are fast and it is too soon to write her off. I would like to see her again on a fast track to get a better gauge. Right now, she is a mystery.
10. Something Aint Right (Alydar Stables/R. Bejarano) Currently thirty-eighth in KYO qualifying standings with 6 points. Purchased earlier this month for $400.000 after she finished third in her 2026 debut in the G3 Forward Gal. She was closing very fast in that one and finished barely behind Top Nurse who is in post two. That was her graded stakes debut, and she made a good account of herself. She will be going a mile for the first time in the Davona Dale but her running style would indicate the mile will only help her. She also showed in her last two starts on off tracks that she will not be bothered if it comes up wet at Gulfstream Park on Saturday. Throw out her seventh-place finish in her debut and she has been on the board in six straight races accruing three wins including a restricted stakes win in the CTBA stakes at Del Mar. There is a lot right with this fast Smokey bred filly and she gets a chance to mark herself as a major player in the Oaks conversation and justify the recent purchase when she makes her barn debut.
11. Neds Diva (The Sidley Stud/L. Dettori) Currently fifty-fourth in KYO qualifying standings with 2 points. The second entry from The Sidley Stud, she has two wins from her five starts and she is a stakes winner by virtue of her victory in The Fantasy at Hastings. That race is admittedly a smaller one, but she followed that up with a third in the G3 Mezarine Stakes to close out her two-year-old year. Like several others in this field, she started off 2026 with a start in the G3 Forward Gal where she showed her typical early speed before being caught late and finishing fifth. She was fifth but only lost by a length and was in the mix. Her stakes win was on a muddy track so she is prepared for any weather in Florida on Saturday. It is worth noting that she ran with only Bute in the Forward Gal for the first time and, as of this writing, is scheduled to run with only Bute again in the Davona Dale. She did not hit the board that day but she did register her career high SRF speed figure that day. From the outside you have to assume she will show her speed early but this is going to be a hard field to get away from. Working well showing a 1:36.4 mile work at PRX in early January.
12. Smokin Lilah (Night Rider Stables/J. J. Castellano) The NJ-bred filly has won two of her eight starts and been in the money in five of those eight. She is a stakes winner having won The Tempted at Aqueduct in her final race as a two-year-old. The Tempted was at the Davona Dale distance of a mile and it was the only time Smokin Lilah was asked to take on stakes company, and she was up to the task when she got up late to earn her black type. She comes into this race with two big question marks for me. How she would handle an off track is yet unknown. Should it rain on Saturday it would be the first time she has competed on anything other than a fast surface. We also have not seen her since that Tempted win on Halloween. She has been given four months off to develop and transition into her three-year-old year. On the surface she seems to have blossomed. She has grown into a robust 16.0h 1238 lb filly. She was 15.3 and 1202 lbs last time we saw her so physically the time has done her good. Her works are not as fast as others, but races are not won in the morning. The outside gate does not help her chances, but the race should still provide some insight into her current form.
I would be lying if I said that Santorini’s eighth place finish in the Martha Washington wasn’t a concern, but I am throwing it out and have to make her my pick here just by virtue of her two-year-old form and her perfect one for one record on wet tracks. I think Ontario Pharmacist has also consistently shown her class but might have some distance limitations. The cutback to a mile should suit her better and I will pick her to round out the exacta. Top Nurse appears sharp having finished ahead of several others in the Forward Gal. She has never been worse than second on off tracks so I will pick her third with Something Aint Right right there in fourth. This is a field loaded with talent and potential and I have changed my mind several times about these picks. No result would surprise me. This will be a fun one to watch.
Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES