Champion Filly Vequist ‘Happy and Sound’ After Davona Dale Loss

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Gary Barber, Wachtel Stable, and Swilcan Stable’s Vequist, the champion 2-year-old filly of 2020, emerged from her ninth-place finish in Saturday’s $200,000 Davona Dale (G2) at Gulfstream Park in good order.

First or second in her 4 starts at 2, including wins in the Spinaway (G1) and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), Vequist was making her 3-year-old debut in the 1-mile Davona Dale.

“She came out of it really well,” trainer Robert E. ‘Butch’ Reid Jr. said Sunday. “We did scope her after the race and she was a little dirty. She had some mucus in there and stuff that we can work with, and I think it definitely affected her performance a little bit, but soundness-wise, she’s great and is happy.”

Wholebodemeister, third in the January 30 Forward Gal (G3) at Gulfstream, shocked the Davona Dale at odds of 52/1, taking over the lead after a 1/2-mile and going to a 6 1/2length triumph. Vequist got bumped at the start and was in range of the leaders racing in mid-pack but never threatened and was eased to the finish by jockey Irad Ortiz Jr.

“I’m glad Irad took care of her the last part of it when she was hopelessly beaten, so she came back great,” Reid said. “Irad did a great job. He saw that she wasn’t really getting there. He gave her a little 1/8 of a mile to run, but I know she’s better than that. We’re going to keep looking at her and keep working her and fall back and regroup a little bit, that’s all.”

Reid said the connections will continue to monitor Vequist in the coming days before committing to a next start.

“We haven’t eliminated anything yet,” Reid said. “It’s going to take us a few days to get a bearing on just where we’re going to head, but right now, she’s happy and sound, and that’s the main thing.”