Shifty She Dominates Pleasant Acres Stallions
Distaff Turf BY BROCK SHERIDAN
Photo by SV Photography
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THE FLORIDA HORSE n APRIL/MAY 2022
On a day when two odds-on and one even-money favorite in Florida Cup races had already gone down in defeat, Shifty She gleamed in the expectations of her 3-5 post time odds while dominating the $110,000 Pleasant Acres Distaff Turf. The Distaff Turf was one of six races on the Florida Cup card at Tampa Bay Downs that offered total purses of $660,000 including the $10,000 Florida Sire Stakes win bonus included in each purse that was presented by the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association. A winner of the Grade 3 Noble Damsel at Belmont Park in October with a second and third in Grade 3 Suwannee River and Grade 3 Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf respectively since, Shifty She did not hesitate to assert her class and quickness in the mile-and-a-sixteenth Distaff Turf as she and jockey Edwin Gonzalez led the field of nine fillies and mares through quarter-mile splits of :23.84, :47.53 and 1:11.79. Gonzalez had Shifty She a length in front most of the way before she began to draw away from her rivals around the far turn and eventually finish with a four-length victory in 1:41.43. Our Flash Drive caught longshot Mona Stella at the wire to get second and it was another length-and-a-quarter back to Lovely Luvy in fourth. They were followed by Mia Martina, Chick’s Shadow, Onyx, Extravagant Rosie and Sip ‘n Dip. “She is a very nice [mare]. She always breaks running, and when she breaks, I let her do what she wants to be comfortable,” Gonzalez said. “I don’t want to be fighting her because I know wherever I put her, she is going to give me her best.” “She won wire-to-wire and was in front the whole way, so it was a nice performance,” Joseph said. “Before the owners sent her to us, she had an issue and they gave her the time off she needed. It was almost two years. She came to us a good filly. And since she’s been with us, we’ve just tried to do as good of a job as the previous trainer. She’s just class.” Shifty She paid $3.20 to win. Trained by Saffie Joseph Jr. for Chris Pallas and Harvey Rothenberg in the name of their Pedigree Partners LLC, Shifty She has now won seven of 13 career starts with a second and two thirds. With winner’s share of the Distaff Turf purse and the $10,000 Florida Sire Stakes win bonus for which she is eligible, she now has career earnings of $453,495. Shifty She is by Pleasant Acres Stallions resident Gone Astray out of Perilous Hope, by Strong Hope and was bred by Chris Pallas and George Klein.
