Ekati's Phaeton guts out Davona Dale victory

Ekati's Phaeton wired Saturday's $200,000

Davona

Dale S. (G2) at Gulfstream Park after a stretch-long duel with Birdatthewire

(Summer Bird) and Eskenformoney (Eskendereya). Piloted by Luis Saez, the Bill

Kaplan-trained filly was a neck better than rival Birdatthewire, who beat her in

the Forward Gal S. (G2) last out, while stakes debuter Eskenformoney finished

another neck back in third.

"This filly has the most speed of any filly I've ever trained, and I trained

Musical Romance to win the Breeders' Cup," Kaplan stated.

"In all of her races prior to this one, I've been trying to teach her to stay

off it a little bit and keep herself in reserve. We didn't do too good last time

doing it that way. (Saez) said she wants to be up front, so I told him to just

let her go. We let her go today and he proved he was right. She's an amazing

horse."

Ekati's Phaeton set the pace in the one-mile affair, quickly moving to the

fore when the gates opened over the fast dirt. She posted splits of :23, :45

4/5, 1:10 3/5 and 1:23 4/5 while chased by 7-2 favorite Eskenformoney and, early

on, Jacaranda (Congrats). Birdatthewire was bumped at the break and allowed to

settle in the rear of the field for the opening half-mile.

"She ran a game, game race," trainer Dale Romans praised his charge,

Birdatthewire. "There's nothing negative to say about it. Those were three good

horses with three good riders all the way to the wire. There's nothing to be

ashamed of.

"Bill Kaplan is a very underrated trainer," Romans added. "He's proven he can

do it. He did it with a champion filly before."

Ekati's Phaeton is now 7-4-1-0, $241,840 while sporting the silks of owner

Phaedrus Flights LLC, who purchased the filly for $50,000 in 2013 as an OBS

August yearling after the dark bay miss RNAed for $18,000 as a Keeneland

November weanling one year prior. She earned 50 points toward a spot in the

Kentucky Oaks (G1) starting gate at Churchill Downs on May 1 thanks to this win.

After breaking her maiden and taking an allowance/optional claimer in her

initial two starts at Gulfstream last fall, Ekati's Phaeton failed to factor in

her first attempt against stakes rivals in the Our Dear Peggy S. She made her

juvenile finale in the House Party S. at Gulfstream Park West, running second

that day, and opened 2015 with a nice win in the Old Hat S. (G3) sprinting six

furlongs. She wound up fourth in the Forward Gal after being forced to check

last out.