HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The expected top two betting choices in Saturday’s Grade 2, $215,000 Davona Dale Stakes at Gulfstream Park appear to have some vulnerabilities. La Cara comes back in three weeks, while Ballerina d’Oro makes her first start in 12 weeks and missed a race due to a fever. But it remains to be seen if any of the other five 3-year-old fillies can take advantage in the one-mile race. La Cara, a daughter of Street Sense trained by Mark Casse for Tracy Farmer, made a smashing 3-year-old debut in winning the Suncoast Stakes by 6 1/4 lengths at Tampa Bay Downs on Feb. 8. Casse said the Grade 1, $750,000 Ashland at Keeneland on April 4 is his major goal, but he didn’t want to wait that long to run her back. “I had to ask myself, ‘What’s the best way to get to the Ashland?’ ” Casse said. “I could give her a little more time between races, but I’d have to ship her. Or, stay at home, run her back a little quick, and that gives her plenty of time to get ready for the Ashland. “Obviously, we want her to run well and we hope we win, but I’m trying to get to the Ashland in what I think is the best way to get there.” :: Play Gulfstream Park with confidence! DRF Past Performances, Picks, and Clocker Reports available now. Casse said he “chose not to” work La Cara in between races, adding that he doesn’t mind the cutback to a one-turn mile Saturday because La Cara already had two starts around two turns, including the Suncoast. La Cara won the one-turn Pocahontas Stakes last September at Churchill, rallying from 11th in a 14-horse field, while she won the Suncoast in gate-to-wire fashion. Dylan Davis rides La Cara from post 3. Chad Brown is also thinking about the Ashland for Ballerina d’Oro. He had her entered in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes at Fair Grounds on Feb. 15, but the day Brown was planning to ship her, Ballerina d’Oro had a fever. Brown said he was going to back up into an allowance race, but opted to enter the Davona Dale when the race was coming up light numbers-wise. Moreover, the Davona Dale offers its top five finishers qualifying points (50-25-15-10-5) toward the May 2 Kentucky Oaks. “The race was coming up a shorter field than I thought, and there are points involved,” Brown said. “It gives me an extra week before the Ashland, where I’m probably going to run her, so I figured even though she missed a week of training, she did a little maintenance work on Sunday, it went fine. She doesn’t seem any worse for wear in her gallops from the week off. Hopefully, we can pick up some points instead of going in a point-less allowance.” Ballerina d’Oro hasn’t run since she finished second, one length behind Muhimma, in the Grade 2 Demoiselle at Aqueduct last December. That was her first race on dirt after three runs on turf, and she had a difficult trip when breaking from the outside post in a 10-horse field. “There was no pace in the race, the winner got very loose, and she was steadied repeatedly down the backside from a very challenging outside post,” Brown said. “First time on dirt, first time with blinkers – it was a very tough spot I put her in. The fact I thought she was steadied more than once into no pace at all, as I evaluated the race afterwards, I thought she was best.” With Davis riding La Cara, Tyler Gaffalione has picked up the mount on Ballerina d’Oro, who breaks from post 6. The Queens M G, a two-time stakes winner sprinting at Saratoga last summer, is coming off a third-place finish in the Grade 3 Forward Gal, her 3-year-old debut on Feb. 1. Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. was happy enough with that performance that he believes The Queens M G was not just a precocious 2-year-old. “That was a thought in my head, but after the race, I thought that’s not so,” Jospeh said. “I think she’s trained forward. In my opinion, she should move forward from her last race.” Frida and My Denyssee finished fifth and seventh (elevated to sixth via disqualification), respectively, in the Forward Gal. Dale Romans entered both Madeline’s Promise, a last-out winner in a $50,000 maiden claiming race, and Quinn’s Promise, third in a first-level allowance here on Jan. 30. The Davona Dale goes as race 8 on a 14-race card that begins at 11:30 a.m. Eastern. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.