The $170,000 Florida Oaks (G3) lost much of its star power when She Be Wild was scratched from the race, but even last year’s top juvenile filly likely would have had a hard time dealing with Florida-bred Diva Delite, who rallied from just off the pace to win by two lengths at Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday.
Diva Delite, a daughter of Repent bred by CloverLeaf Farms II in Reddick before the operation was moved to Kentucky in 2007, extended her winning streak to five races.
She won a pair of allowances at Calder in December and January before stepping up to stakes company at Tampa Bay Downs, winning the $67,500 Gasparilla Stakes in January and the $70,000 Suncoast Stakes last month.
All three of Diva Delite’s stakes victories have come with Rosemary Homeister Jr. aboard. On Saturday, the jockey had Diva Delite as far back as seventh place early in the 1 1⁄16-mile contest but never far from the lead as Mallory Square carved out fractions of 24.79 seconds for the first quarter of a mile and 50.03 seconds for half a mile.
Diva Delite moved into fifth place midway through the race and fanned out four-wide through the final turn to set up her stretch run. She edged away down the lane and finished in 1:46.10 on a fast track.
Diva Delite returned $5.60, $3 and $2.80 as the favorite in a field of nine 3-year-old fillies. Florida-bred C C’s Pal paid $12.80 and $9.80 after finishing second, half a length ahead of Mallory Square, who returned $9.40 to show.
“This is such a wonderful filly to ride,” Homeister said. “I knew she was going to be good again today. She was just so perky in the post parade, and then she just waited in the gate without turning a hair. She broke nicely like she always has, and I took a spot behind the lead group. But the pace slowed, and I was afraid of running up on horses, so I took her out and asked her to wait.
“She wanted to go after them as we got past the half-mile pole. But when I asked her to go, she just went past everybody in about five strides. All I was worried about in the stretch was that something might come up inside of us, but there was nothing there.”
Diva Delite has won eight of her 15 career starts and earned $285,067. The Florida Oaks was her graded stakes debut and marked the 14th time she’s finished in the money for trainer David Vivian and his wife, Barbara, who owns the filly in a partnership with Dominic Vittese.
David Vivian said he’ll likely give Diva Delite a rest and skip the Kentucky Oaks (G1).
“Right now, I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do, but she’s run some hard races, and I’ve shipped her back and forth with two weeks apart and three weeks apart. She’s done a lot. She looks excellent though, so I’m just going to play it by ear, see how she is in three or four weeks, and we’ll see what she’ll do. She just keeps improving and improving, and she goes long, and there’s not too many 3-year-old fillies that want to go long.”
C C’s Pal, a daughter of Alex’s Pal bred by Ocala consignor Beth Bayer, rebounded from a seventh-place finish behind Diva Delite in the Suncoast Stakes to be the runner-up in her graded stakes debut. The filly has won two of her eight starts for $61,986.
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–Photo of Florida-bred Diva Delite by Cooley
