After earning a stakes win and grade III placing last season, Flora Dora is scheduled to begin her 3-year-old campaign on Sunday, Jan. 31 in the $100,000 Busanda Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Winter weather forced the race to be postponed from Jan. 23 to 31.
Florida-bred Flora Dora secured her maiden win in the restricted My Dear Girl division of the Florida Stallion Stakes Oct. 3 at Gulfstream Park. The Coffeepot Stables runner followed that effort with a runner-up finish to Big World in the Tempted Stakes (gr. III) Nov. 4 at Aqueduct before wrapping her juvenile season with a fourth in the Demoiselle Stakes (gr. II) there on Nov. 28.
Bred in Florida by Dizney Double Diamond, Flora Dora is a daughter of First Dude —Aidan, by Dixieland Band. She is trained by Marialice Coffey. Jose Ortiz will be aboard for the first time.
Flora Dora will be the 122-pound highweight in the Busanda, an inner track, one-mile and 70-yard race for 3-year-old fillies that drew a total of seven fillies. The Busanda is a points qualifying race in the Kentucky Oaks Championship Series, with points being awarded 10-4-2-1 to the top four finishers.
Alto Racing's Alto Belle will be making her first start since rolling to an 18 1/2-length maiden special weight victory over four other fillies in a Nov. 20 race on the Aqueduct main track. The daughter of Trappe Shot is trained by Todd Pletcher and will be ridden Sunday by Irad Ortiz Jr.
Aqueduct Racetrack, Sunday, January 31, 2016, Race 9Entries: Busanda S.
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Flora Dora (FL) Jose L. Ortiz 120 Marialice Coffey 3/1 2 2She's So Fine (KY) Aaron T. Gryder 116 Michael J. Maker 20/1 3 3Lost Raven (KY) Manuel Franco 120 Todd A. Pletcher 5/1 4 4Invite (VA) Junior Alvarado 116 William I. Mott 8/1 5 5Alto Belle (KY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 116 Todd A. Pletcher 5/2 6 6Dreams to Reality (KY) Christopher P. DeCarlo 116 Michael Dilger 12/1 7 7Kentucky Road (KY) Gabriel Saez 116 John T. Toscano, Jr. 20/1 8 8Scatoosh (KY) Kendrick Carmouche 116 Leah Gyarmati 4/1 9 9Arch Or Nothing (KY) Ruben Silvera 116 Edmund Pringle 30/1
