An impressive 2-year-old, La Cara showed she was back better than ever at age 3 with an emphatic victory in the $150,000 Suncoast Stakes Feb. 8 at Tampa Bay Downs.
When second choice Her Laugh hopped and missed the break, jockey Dylan Davis spurred the Tracy Farmer homebred La Cara to the front and the pair assumed pacesetting honors through opening splits of :24.03 and :47.08. Davis loosened up his snug hold into the far turn and La Cara widened her advantage to 3 lengths at the top of the stretch. With no competition in sight, the daughter of Street Sense cruised to the wire 6 1/4 lengths clear of her rivals.
Favored La Cara ($9.20) completed the 1 mile and 40 yards on a fast main track in 1:38.51, just 0.33 seconds off the Tampa Bay Downs track record.
"It was very impressive," said Davis. "I was working with her at Palm Meadows (Training Center) her last few works, and she is a very classy filly. I just let her decide what she wanted to do—she can come off the pace or be on the lead—she has won on both."
La Cara pocketed 20 points toward the Road to the Kentucky Oaks with her Suncoast tally, increasing her total to 33. With Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) winner Immersive declared out of the Oaks, La Cara currently sits tied for first with Tenma on the leaderboard. La Cara previously earned Oaks points with a score in last year's Pocahontas Stakes (G3) and a fifth place finish in the Juvenile Fillies.
"Her last few works have been really good. I was expecting a good effort, but this was beyond my expectations," said trainer Mark Casse. "(The goal would be) the (Kentucky) Oaks, obviously. This is what we do it for. The Farmers have been so good to us. This is a homebred. I trained her mom (Cara Caterina) and she could not outrun you or I. This is her first foal, but she has a tremendous pedigree, so it skipped a generation. (Cara Caterina) is a full sister to To Honor and Serve."
The unlucky Her Laugh, who was shipping into Tampa from Fair Grounds for trainer Whit Beckman, closed with tenacity to finish second after being left at the start. A winner of the Untapable Stakes in her last start, the Practical Joke filly picked up 10 points in the Suncoast with her runner-up effort.
"It was a rough start for sure (hopping at the break), but it was probably her most productive start to date," Beckman said of Her Laugh. "She closed a ton of ground and did it with relative ease and then galloped out very well (after the wire). I'm happy with her effort."
Godolphin homebred Deloraine completed the trifecta.
Tampa Bay Downs, Saturday, February 8, 2025, Race 9Entries: Suncoast S.
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Deloraine (KY) Jesus Lopez Castanon 120 Eoin G. Harty 12/1 2 2Dancing Magic (KY) Junior Alvarado 120 Michael B. Campbell 8/1 3 3Italian Soiree (KY) Flavien Prat 120 John P. Terranova II 7/2 4 4Her Laugh (KY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 122 D. Whitworth Beckman 5/2 5 5Junta (KY) Willie Martinez 120 Anthony J. Granitz 12/1 6 6La Cara (KY) Dylan Davis 124 Mark E. Casse 2/1 7 7Queen in the Deck (KY) Samuel Marin 120 Carlos Munoz 30/1 8 8Cloe (KY) Samy Camacho 120 Victor Barboza, Jr. 8/1
