Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf start a “Bonus” for G1 winner Dalika
At 0h02, on January 24, 2023 • By GULFSTREAM
With trainer Al Stall hailing from New Orleans, it’s appropriate that he uses the term ‘lagniappe’ when he discusses the 7-year-old German-bred mare Dalika running in Gulfstream Park’s $500,000 TAA Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf Invitational (G3) presented by Pepsi. After all, the Cajun-French-inspired word, pronounced LAN-yap, means a gift or something extra.
The 1 1/16-mile grass stakes will mark the last race of Dalika’s career, which started out with three races in Europe as a 2-year-old before she was purchased by Paul Varga’s Bal Mar Equine LLC and sent to Stall. In America, Dalika has won nine of 28 races, with six seconds and nearly all of her $1.44 million in earnings.
Dalika’s key race came in the Beverly D. Stakes last July at Churchill Downs, giving her the Grade 1 victory for which she was kept in training in 2022. The Beverly D. was held at Dalika’s home track after the closing of Chicago’s Arlington Park. With the switch, the distance was shortened to 1 1/8 miles over a course playing to speed, with the race having only five starters.
“The whole year was house money,” Stall said by phone from New Orleans. “We stumbled on the Beverly D. Everything was just lagniappe, as we say. [But] we wouldn’t be doing this if she wasn’t just perfectly sound and very happy with herself right now.”
Varga said via text that Dalika’s stallion mating should be finalized in the next couple of weeks and that he’ll be keep his options open whether to keep her or sell.
Dalika, who will be ridden for the fifth straight race by Brian Hernandez Jr., has proven most effective racing on the lead.
